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Trump-Backed “El Tigre” Wins Colombia Presidency As Socialist Era Ends

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Trump-Backed “El Tigre” Wins Colombia Presidency As Socialist Era Ends

South America is undergoing a once-in-a-generation political realignment as voters turn against left-wing and unhinged socialist governments and embrace common-sense right-wing leaders who promise law and order, economic reform, and national renewal.

The political shift across the Americas gained further momentum on Sunday evening after Abelardo de la Espriella, backed by President Trump, won Colombia’s presidential runoff in a narrow victory over left-wing senator Iván Cepeda. This is a major blow to the socialists, coming after four years under the left-wing administration of Gustavo Petro.

With 99.65% of ballots counted in the preliminary tally, de la Espriella had 12.91 million votes, or 49.65%, compared with Cepeda’s 12.67 million, or 48.7%. The margin was about 248,000 votes, narrower than de la Espriella’s first-round advantage three weeks earlier.

Polymarket 

De la Espriella, who has referred to himself as El Tigre (the Tiger), has now put Colombia back on track to shift right after four years of disastrous socialism. This follows recent right-wing victories in Honduras and Chile, with Peru also leaning right. The 2024 re-election of right-wing Nayib Bukele, who fundamentally transformed El Salvador into one of the region’s safest countries, is another example.

In 2023, Javier Milei was sworn in as president of Argentina, aiming to reverse years of far-left control that had devastated the nation with inflation and debt. Earlier this year, U.S. Delta Force operators removed socialist Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela.

The shift across the Americas is part of a broader backlash against progressive policies that have sparked surging violent crime, economic stagnation, debt traps, currency declines, and collapsing public confidence.

Americas Political Map: Presidential Shift From Left To Right

Country-by-country presidential shift tracker

Back to De La Espriella, who ran on a simple platform popular among right-wing leaders in the Americas: restore law and order and rescue the country from the economic ruin progressives had created. He has also vowed to “disembowel” the left in Colombia.

Meanwhile, Petro, who was constitutionally barred from seeking re-election and backed Cepeda, alleged irregularities in the preliminary vote count and blamed Israel…

“This means that the software was compromised and others wrote data for polling stations and voting posts. The only entity in the world capable of doing that is the state of Israel,” Petro wrote on X.

The pattern is clear: the Western Hemisphere experimented with nation-killing progressive policies that have largely failed and have entered a rejection phase. This gives rise to right-wing governments that support Trump, coinciding with his mission to clean up the West, whether by dismantling narco-terrorist command-and-control structures, pushing Chinese influence out of the region, or simply stopping the rise of socialism and communism.

Tyler Durden
Sun, 06/21/2026 – 21:35

Let’s Hear It For The Dads

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Let’s Hear It For The Dads

Authored by Silvio Canto via American Thinker,

It’s another Fathers’ Day, and let me say a cheer for our fathers.

I was blessed with a wonderful father, who led by example and taught me all the right values.  He passed away back in late 2015, but I still remember having a little Cuban coffee and enjoying a game on TV.  I would love to have another of those Sunday afternoons back, because I miss them dearly.  We spoke about so much in those moments.

I remember the time that we were watching a news story about people breaking into stores and stealing things.  He looked at me with a very serious face and said, ”Where are their fathers?  No fathers means young men who don’t respect order.”

There is more to fathers than remembering what my father thought of young men acting wild.  

We do have a “father crisis” in many communities in the U.S.

Years ago, Juan Williams, author and Fox News contributor, wrote “The Tragedy of America’s Disappearing Fathers”:

The extent of the problem is clear.

The nation’s out-of-wedlock birth rate is 38%.

Among white children, 28% are now born to a single mother; among Hispanic children it is 50% and reaches a chilling, disorienting peak of 71% for black children.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, nearly a quarter of America’s white children (22%) do not have any male in their homes; nearly a third (31%) of Hispanic children and over half of black children (56%) are fatherless.

This represents a dramatic shift in American life.

In the early 1960s, only 2.3% of white children and 24% of black children were born to a single mom.

Having a dad, in short, is now a privilege, a ticket to middle-class status on par with getting into a good college.

Fathers’ Day is here. 

 Let’s remember a simple truth: We need men to be responsible fathers now more than ever.

Tyler Durden
Sun, 06/21/2026 – 21:00

Downtown Seattle Lost 30,000 Jobs Since 2020 Payroll Tax: Report

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Downtown Seattle Lost 30,000 Jobs Since 2020 Payroll Tax: Report

Authored by Dylan Morgan via The Epoch Times,

A new report from the Downtown Seattle Association published June 15 stated that downtown Seattle has lost around 30,000 jobs since 2020, when city leaders passed the “JumpStart” business tax, while neighboring Bellevue has become more attractive for businesses.

“What we have seen in downtown Seattle is not a ‘jump start,’ but instead, a slowdown,” the report stated.

“Seattle has become a tax outlier in the region, and it’s costing the city jobs and tax revenue, while shifting the property tax burden to residents and small businesses, worsening overall affordability in the city.”

The nonprofit membership organization said it conducted an audit comparing the city’s tax environment and business climate with that of Bellevue.

In 2020, the City Council said the “JumpStart Tax,” which currently taxes Seattle businesses that pay more than $9,074,409 on payroll expenses with at least one employee making over $194,452, was to address COVID-19 economic impacts as well as to support existing city services and new affordable housing.

“We are in the midst of a health and economic crisis that even a strong economy like Seattle may not be able to recover from quickly,” Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda said in 2020.

“JumpStart Seattle will … jump start our recovery with a relief plan that centers workers, small businesses and our most vulnerable community members.”

The report found the tax costs Seattle businesses between $1,450 and $9,390 per employee.

In 2026, the JumpStart tax is projected to bring in $410 million.

Bellevue has no such tax.

The report also showed that Seattle property tax compared to property value had increased nearly 48 percent from $3.79 per $1,000 in 2019, to $5.60 in 2026.

In that same time, Bellevue property tax decreased from $3.72 per $1,000 to $3.12, an approximately 19 percent drop.

It said that downtown Seattle’s office properties have fallen 48 percent in value between 2020 and 2025, while downtown Bellevue’s had increased 7 percent during that same period.

It added that Seattle’s Central Business District had an office vacancy rate of 6.7 percent in 2019, which climbed to 32 percent in 2025, while Bellevue’s rose from 2.5 percent to 24 percent in that period.

“When comparing business tax burdens and broader tax trends in Seattle and Bellevue, the contrast is clear: Bellevue’s more favorable tax climate has made it increasingly attractive to employers and investment relative to Seattle,” the report said.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Seattle City Council but did not receive a response by publication.

Amazon, which is headquartered in Seattle, has been gradually increasing its footprint in Bellevue, as the company said it became the city’s largest employer, growing from 450 employees in 2017 to more than 15,000 this year.

The company’s footprint expansion in Bellevue has also come with significant investment outside of office space. It committed $100 million to fund affordable housing initiatives in Bellevue and $22.6 million for local transportation projects.

Tyler Durden
Sun, 06/21/2026 – 19:50

Meet Steak ‘n Shake’s First MAHA Officer

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Meet Steak ‘n Shake’s First MAHA Officer

Authored by Jeff Louderback via The Epoch Times,

DALLAS—Lunch at Steak ‘n Shake is served for Michael Boes. The plate in front of him has a grass-fed burger and beef tallow fries. He washes it down with cane sugar Coca-Cola.

“Fast food doesn’t have to mean processed, complicated, or artificial. It used to mean real, simple, and delicious – and it can again,” Boes said.

Michael Boes, Steak ‘n Shake’s chief Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) officer, in Irving, Texas, on June 15, 2026. Bobby Sanchez/The Epoch Times

Founded in Normal, Illinois, in 1934, Steak ‘n Shake was most known for its steakburgers and hand-dipped milkshakes for decades. Almost a century later, the chain is building its brand around the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement.

The heart of Steak ‘n Shake’s transformation is a bold pledge: to eliminate industrial seed oils from its menu items and shift to cleaner ingredients.

Leading the transformation is Boes, one of the forces behind the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. In April, he was named the restaurant chain’s first chief MAHA officer.

A former senior adviser within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health, Boes holds a position described by the company as “a new executive role dedicated to advancing nutritional integrity, ingredient transparency, and the long-term health of Steak ‘n Shake customers.”

Sardar Biglari is the chairman and CEO of Biglari Holdings, the owner of Steak ‘n Shake. When announcing the hiring of Boes, Biglari called the position “a sign of our continued commitment to make Steak ‘n Shake the great differentiator in fast food.”

“Michael is ideally suited for such a role, with his deep understanding of nutrition and his experience at the highest level of health policymaking,” Biglari said. “To put it simply, good-tasting food should also be good for you.”

The company announced in May that it would make the switch to “100 percent grass-fed and grass-finished” beef. In March last year, the company announced the switch from seed oils to beef tallow. In February 2026, it said it would remove all microwaves from franchise locations by April, writing in an online post that “quality restaurants don’t need microwaves.”

Steak ‘n Shake prepares fries, tater tots, onion rings, and chicken tenders in 100 percent beef tallow with “no additives, preservatives, or chemicals.”

On its website, the company explained that it has worked with its manufacturer of fries and tots to completely eliminate the vegetable oil formerly used to fry the product before freezing and shipping it to the restaurants. As a result, Steak ‘n Shake’s beef tallow fries and tots are not yet completely free of seed oils, according to the website.

“Transitioning away from seed oils is a journey, and we continue to work with our other suppliers to achieve our goal,” the company said on its website.

The chain uses 100 percent Grade A Wisconsin butter sourced from a family farm and it serves cane sugar Coke rather than drinks that have high fructose corn syrup. Last December, Steak ‘n Shake switched to A2 Milk, which is “100 percent real milk from cows that naturally produce only the A2 protein and no A1,” which may help with digestion, according to A2 Milk’s website.

Boes noted that Steak and Shake is still early in its transformation.

“We took the bold step to say we’re going to drive the demand side in order to impact the supply side,” Boes said.

“The website is a prime example of the transparency and messaging, saying up front that we are making this transformation, but it’s not going to be complete overnight, so please stick with us.”

Boes, who grew up in the Dallas area, earned a bachelor’s degree from Texas Christian University followed by an MBA from Southern Methodist University.

He worked in healthcare technology with a focus on commercial growth for 15 years before joining HHS. He developed expertise in nutrition after addressing personal health challenges.

“I had gut and skin issues, I had trouble putting weight on, and I was on medication for ADD. I didn’t feel healthy,” he said.

Positive changes happened, Boes explained, when he eliminated processed foods and started eating whole foods. In a matter of months, he gained “healthy weight,” added muscle, and felt more energetic.

From that point, he became immersed in reading articles and listening to podcasts about biohacking, which is a do-it-yourself form of personal improvement in which people focus on changing their biology to improve their overall health and well-being.

“The chronic disease epidemic and mental health crisis are tied to what we put into our bodies. I wanted to be a part of influencing positive change in those areas,” Boes said.

After attending President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Boes was driven to work with the new administration, he said.

He made cold calls and sent emails to figures such as Stefanie Spear, who served as the press secretary for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign and is now Kennedy’s chief of staff. HHS expressed interest, Boes said. After a phone call and two interviews, and learning that they sought private sector professionals, he joined the agency and helped develop the new dietary guidelines.

Boes’s career path evolved once again after a chance meeting with Biglari at the wedding of Alex Bruesewitz, a political consultant and an adviser to Trump.

Biglari told Boes that he wanted to align Steak ‘n Shake with the growing movement of health-conscious consumers.

“I had my opportunity to impact the regulatory side. Now I have this opportunity to prove that not only is there a regulation component to this, but also MAHA can be the cornerstone of a brand,” Boes said.

“That is a powerful story that can impact people and shape the industry,” he added.

Boes said that in his previous role with HHS, he talked to multiple restaurant companies and asked them if there was a way they could work collaboratively with the agency and reform the food environment.

A Steak ‘n Shake restaurant in Middletown, Del., on July 26, 2019. The fast food chain in April hired a chief MAHA officer, an industry first. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Tyler Durden
Sun, 06/21/2026 – 18:40

Explosion At Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial Area Due To “Technical Incident”

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Explosion At Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial Area Due To “Technical Incident”

A massive explosion rocked Qatar’s giant Ras Laffan energy complex. 

According to Qatar’s interior ​ministry, an explosion ‌resulting from a “technical accident” occurred on Sunday at a factory ​in Ras Laffan, an ​industrial city north of the ⁠capital Doha and site of ​the country’s core LNG ​processing operations. It said several injuries were reported but no leak that “threatens safety”.

The ​ministry did not give ​the exact location of the explosion, ‌but ⁠a source with knowledge of the matter said it occurred at the Barzan gas ​plant ​in ⁠Ras Laffan and was due to an “operational error”.

In a post on X, Qatar Energy confirmed that in the evening hours of Sunday 21 June 2026, there was an operational incident during the start-up of operations at Ras Laffan Industrial City which resulted in an explosion and fire at Barzan local gas supply facility. It added that emergency response teams were deployed immediately to contain the fire, which is now under control.

Shortly after the start of the war, Iranian attacks on the Ras Laffan complex crippled some of the most important LNG facilities prompting Qatar to predict that it would take as much as 5 years for the country’s LNG production to come back fully online. 

Tyler Durden
Sun, 06/21/2026 – 17:30

What History Teaches Us About Why So Many Eventually Flee Socialism

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What History Teaches Us About Why So Many Eventually Flee Socialism

Authored by Armstrong Williams via The Epoch Times,

History is filled with political movements born from noble promises. Few have been more appealing in theory than socialism. At its heart, socialism promises greater equality, economic fairness, and protection for those who struggle in a competitive marketplace. It speaks to the desire for justice and the belief that no person should be left behind.

Yet history also teaches a sobering lesson: While millions have voted for socialism, millions more have ultimately fled from it.

Why?

The answer is not found in campaign slogans or academic theories. It is found in the lived experiences of ordinary people across generations and continents.

Throughout the 20th century, socialist governments emerged across Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Many came to power promising to eliminate poverty, reduce inequality, and place the needs of the people above the interests of the wealthy. In the beginning, those promises often generated enormous enthusiasm. Citizens were told that government planning would be more efficient than free markets, that collective ownership would create fairness, and that centralized control would produce prosperity for all.

The results, however, frequently fell short of the promises.

One recurring problem was the concentration of power. When governments assume responsibility for directing large portions of the economy, political leaders inevitably gain greater control over employment, investment, production, and distribution. Over time, this concentration of authority often extends beyond economics into other aspects of society.

History shows that when governments acquire greater power, citizens frequently lose a measure of independence. Economic freedom and political freedom are often more closely connected than many realize. When a person’s livelihood depends heavily upon the state, dissent becomes more difficult and individual choice becomes more limited.

Another lesson history teaches is that incentives matter.

Human beings respond to rewards, risks, and opportunities. Free-market systems are far from perfect, but they have consistently demonstrated a remarkable ability to encourage innovation, entrepreneurship, and productivity. When individuals are allowed to benefit from their hard work, creativity, and investment, economies tend to grow.

By contrast, heavily centralized systems often struggle to generate the same level of innovation and efficiency. Bureaucracies can become slow, inflexible, and disconnected from local realities. Over time, shortages, inefficiencies, and declining productivity have plagued many state-controlled economies.

This does not mean capitalism is without flaws. It clearly is not. Free markets can produce inequality, abuse, and economic dislocation. They require regulation, accountability, and moral responsibility. But history suggests that replacing markets with extensive government control often creates a different set of problems—problems that can be even more difficult to solve.

Perhaps the most powerful evidence comes from migration patterns.

Throughout modern history, people have overwhelmingly moved toward societies that offered greater economic freedom rather than away from them. From East Germans risking their lives to cross the Berlin Wall to Cubans crossing dangerous waters to Venezuelans fleeing economic collapse, countless individuals have voted with their feet.

This reality deserves careful consideration.

People rarely abandon their homes, families, language, and culture without compelling reasons. When citizens repeatedly leave countries governed by socialist systems in search of opportunity elsewhere, it raises important questions about the long-term sustainability of those systems.

The lesson is not that every policy associated with socialism is inherently wrong. Many democratic societies incorporate social safety nets, public health care programs, retirement systems, and other forms of government support while maintaining market economies and strong democratic institutions.

The real lesson is about balance.

Successful societies tend to recognize both the strengths and limitations of government. They understand that government has an important role in protecting the vulnerable, enforcing the rule of law, and providing essential public services. At the same time, they recognize that prosperity is often driven by individual initiative, private enterprise, innovation, and economic freedom.

As younger generations debate the merits of socialism, they should do so with an appreciation for history rather than romanticized visions of what might be. Good intentions alone do not guarantee good outcomes. Policies must ultimately be judged not by their promises but by their results.

History’s verdict is neither simple nor ideological. It is practical. Again and again, people have demonstrated through their actions that they value freedom, opportunity, and the ability to shape their own destinies. When those things become scarce, many eventually seek them elsewhere.

That is perhaps the most enduring lesson history offers: People may be attracted by promises of equality, but they are often willing to travel great distances—and endure great hardship—in pursuit of liberty.

Today, these lessons are becoming part of the American political conversation. With socialist candidates gaining influence in major cities—two examples being the rise of Councilwoman Janeese Lewis George in Washington, D.C., and the growing prominence of Mayor Zohran Mamdani in New York City—voters are once again debating the proper balance between government intervention and individual enterprise.

Supporters see these movements as a response to rising costs, housing shortages, and economic inequality. Critics see warning signs that history has presented before. Whatever one’s political perspective, the debate should not be driven by slogans or emotion alone. It should be informed by the experiences of nations that have already traveled this road.

The harsh lessons of history are not that compassion is dangerous or that government has no role to play. Rather, they remind us that concentrated power, diminished economic freedom, and excessive dependence on the state often carry consequences that emerge only over time.

America’s future will not be determined by labels such as “capitalist” or “socialist.” It will be determined by whether we preserve the freedom, opportunity, innovation, and personal responsibility that have long defined the nation’s success while ensuring that those who struggle are not left behind.

History remains our greatest teacher. The question is whether we are willing to learn from it.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden
Sun, 06/21/2026 – 17:30

Feminists Are Increasingly Joining “Witchcraft Communes” To Fill The Spiritual Void

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Feminists Are Increasingly Joining “Witchcraft Communes” To Fill The Spiritual Void

In the past 70 years, the subject of the Salem Witch Trials has been hijacked by the political left as a historic example of the authoritarian nature of the “patriarchy”.  Arthur Miller used the trials as an allegory for “anti-communist hysteria” in his famous 1953 play, The Crucible.  As we now know, however, Joseph McCarthy was mostly right when he warned about an insidious and organized Marxist takeover of America’s social and educational institutions. 

A more nuanced historic analysis shows that witchcraft was indeed a problem in the colonies just as it was a problem in Europe.  Not so much because of “black magic” or dark curses, but because “witches” were often early representations of social malcontents causing problems in Christian communities just as they cause problems in the western world today.

There were false accusations, there’s no doubt.  But the narrative that most or all witch burnings were unjustified is simply false.

The reason women (and some men) were accused of being witches and burned at the stake was because they willfully engaged in highly destructive anti-social behaviors.  The local witch was often the village abortionist, a seller of poisons, and the town prostitute or harlot plying her “trade” at a time when there was zero tolerance for this kind of behavior.

It should be noted that the practice of casting out or executing sociopaths, psychopaths and other people with destructive social tendencies (considered black magic) is common among religious groups around the world, not just in Puritan towns and Christian society.  This includes Native American tribes that feminists tend to idolize.  

When human beings lived in small villages, broken and dangerous people were much easier to identify and remove before they did significant damage.  In the new era of metropolitan isolation within mass population centers, they easily blend into the crowd.  Sometimes they are even celebrated as “visionaries” by Hollywood and the media.       

Modern feminists proudly draw connections to the subversive world of witches because they tend toward delusional fantasies of dominance.  Women, by their biological nature, lack any real ability to project power, so they fabricate notions of magical influence in their minds.  Some of the most popular women’s trends today revolve around concepts of New Age “manifestation”, which is just a modern way of believing in magic.

It’s not surprising that feminists in the US in 2026 are flocking to “witchcraft communes”, an idea recently applauded in a expose by The Guardian.  The outlet notes:

“Witchcraft retreats…have proliferated across the US and Europe over the last decade. The practice they’re built around resists easy definition. Equal parts ancient folk magic, herbal remedies and self-soothing rituals, it encompasses everything from the spellcasting done by self-directed pagans to solitary practitioners who scatter protective salts around their homes. If you buy a crystal, that’s witchcraft. If you practice manifestation, that’s witchcraft…”

“The retreat boom was foreshadowed by an interest in witchcraft that has grown since the counterculture movement in the 1960s, says Helen Berger, a Harvard Divinity School-based sociologist of religion and one of the leading scholars of contemporary paganism. While it’s hard to really identify a single catalyst driving women to witchcraft, Berger sees a pattern: spikes in alternative spirituality tend to coincide with spikes in anti-authoritarianism. In 1968, for example, several feminist groups co-opted occult imagery, adopted the acronym Witch…”

The reason witchcraft appeals so much to women on the political left is because leftist movements operate on the same value system – Meaning, they have no values.  The problem is, Atheism leaves an emotional and spiritual void, leaving people desperate for answers to questions that scientific explanation does not satisfy.  The occult promises people answers, but without all those nasty rules and responsibilities commonly attached to Christianity.

    

In other words, witchcraft is a religion for people who think they are above moral obligation.  People who think they can revolt against the natural order.  In this way, witchcraft and feminism are fundamentally the same thing.  The Guardian continues:

“Clauré hosts at least two witchcraft retreats a year, in Savannah, Georgia and Salem, Massachusetts; prices run anywhere from $2,700 to $5,200 to attend. She says women are searching for something beyond the slumber party Ouija board rituals that loosely inspired her retreats in the first place.  “The patriarchy is not good for anybody, men or women,” Clauré says. “Women have been inherently drawn to [witchcraft spaces] after being demonized or called hysterical or stigmatized. We’re so fucking sick of it that we’re gonna do things our way, whether you call it crazy or not.”…”  

““If you look at the larger social gestalt right now, in which power is being systematically taken away from women and queer people, the traditional witch is the opposite of ‘right’ society,” says Sabina Magliocco, a professor of anthropology and religion at the University of British Columbia and a former Guggenheim fellow. “But if ‘right’ society is depriving women of rights, is excluding women, is saying that it is perfectly fine to sexually abuse women, that there aren’t going to be any consequences, then maybe being the opposite of right society is aligning with the forces of justice.””

It’s impossible to distinguish between the political rhetoric of modern witchcraft and feminists; they are symbiotic.  Fantasies of victimhood usually coincide with societal expectations.  Liberal women see basic laws, social norms and meritocracy as “oppressive”.  But really, they are narcissists who refuse to accept that the entire world does not revolve around them and their wishes.  This is who witchcraft appeals to. 

The wider implications are serious, and not because these women have any real magical powers.  Rather, feminism and similar movements are a psychological plague that spreads, rotting nations from within.  If they face backlash it’s not because they are female or queer, it’s because they deliberately engineer disruption and encourage degeneracy that breaks society down.  They revel in chaos. 

The witches of old were burned at the stake for such behavior; behaviors which the “Patriarchy” kept in check before they infested the greater community.  Feminists are lucky that they’re only mocked or shunned in modern times.         

Tyler Durden
Sun, 06/21/2026 – 15:45

With Just 2 Weeks To Go Until 250th July 4th Celebration, How Much Higher Will Trump Pump Stocks

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With Just 2 Weeks To Go Until 250th July 4th Celebration, How Much Higher Will Trump Pump Stocks

By Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

Getting Ready for the Most Beautiful HUGE Long Weekend Ever

I hope you are all enjoying the Juneteenth long weekend and Father’s Day. It seems like we just had a long weekend (because we did) and that another long weekend is almost upon us (because it is). While the 4th of July is always special, this being the 250th celebration of Independence is a big deal. I think the President will do everything in his power to make it a big deal. More on that in a moment.

The Deal, or Extended Ceasefire, or MOU

Academy’s Geopolitical Intelligence Group weighed in on the Iran deal on Thursday in the Signing of the MOU. That followed up on the Academy Podcast (which can also be found on iTunes and Spotify), recorded before details of the MOU were known, but covered much of what happened. A good listen if you are driving anywhere today! I’m sure the kids in the back seat would appreciate it.         

Over the weekend, the fragility of the deal is there for everyone to see! If this seems even more like a band-aid solution to get oil flowing while deciding how serious Iran is to committing to terms we want, while we determine if we are willing to re-escalate, then that is probably what it is! Academy will be keeping a close eye on developments. 

The Fed and Rates 

As discussed in our post-FOMC report The Warsh Task Forces, I think he did an excellent job at his first meeting. Rather than coming across as dovish and risking losing control of the long end of the yield curve, he not only hammered home on inflation (squarely placing the blame on prior decisions by the Fed, amongst other things), but he also created task forces, that by and large made sense. If I could get picked to go on any task force, I would beg and plead to be allowed to be part of the Data Sources task force. As anyone who has read the T-Report for a long time (it has to be approaching 15 years) knows, we consistently argue about Garbage In, Garbage Out. That we make so many important decisions on data that seems jumbled together at best, and outright wrong at worst. My favorite targets are: 

  • The entire collection process for the NFP data. Surveys? Really? Can’t we offer some reduction on payroll tax in return for providing timely payroll information? It wouldn’t be perfect, but would create a lot less noise around a large percentage of the work force. 
    • The Household Survey is deemed so wildly inaccurate that they don’t even highlight the job changes in that survey, but they use it for calculating the Unemployment Rate?
    • The birth/death model. We have argued again and again that this is a source of so many revisions because it does not capture what EIN (Employment Identification Number) requests mean in a “gig” or “side hustle” economy! 
  • CPI, starting with Owners’ Equivalent Rent. It has built in lags that only sample a fraction each month. It is still based on single family homes, rather than apartments. It is an estimate of what a homeowner could get if they rented. With so many indices out there showing real-time rent (including one the Cleveland Fed developed) it is time to ditch this. Though, since it is in CPI, it requires an act of Congress to change, since it impacts Social Security. Seems like a no-brainer to me, but wouldn’t bet on this no-brainer being fixed any time soon.
    • According to the CPI data Urban Medical Health Insurance costs the same today as it did back in 2019. I couldn’t say that with a straight face, yet it is part of CPI. If you wonder why many argue that the inflation numbers don’t match the real world, this would be pretty high on my list. My gut feel is that for most people (and corporations) health insurance premiums have gone up at least 25% (according to Grok) and that still seems low.
    • While Truflation has its own set of potential flaws, it does offer some useful insights and seems like just one of many alternative sources the government should look at.

At the risk of burying the lede, as we published on Wednesday after the meeting, we are moving to neutral on rates, rather than being bearish. Warsh removed some near-term tail risk to the long end.

Reducing the tail risk is significant and the MOVE index (a measure of implied volatility in the bond market) dropped to pre-Iran levels (the MOU helped as well, but the steep drop Thursday can likely be more attributed to Warsh than Iran).

Space and AI

If you missed last weekend’s report on the AI Revolution and Space – The NOW Frontier, it is a great time to catch up.

The topic generated a lot of discussion, with a good mix of people hating on the AI Revolution assessment – almost equal numbers of those who argued I was too pessimistic mixed with those arguing I was too optimistic

The 250th 4th of July Celebration

Why did we use “beautiful” and “HUGE” in the title? Because those are words the President likes to use when pumping something up. Whether we are talking about the ball room, or the reflecting pool, the President has been doing and saying things to spruce up D.C. We can argue (or choose not to argue) about hosting a “sporting” event on the White House Lawn. But this President is a showman, who likes a spectacle and the 250th anniversary is real, important, and is highly likely something that the President wants to go down in history for.

The reality is that the President by almost every poll is near or at the bottom of his approval ratings. I tried to use some of the Nate Silver polling info, but it was not conducive to cut and paste so I went with the Real Clear Politics one (not because I know much about it, but it was readily available on Bloomberg).

What do we know, with a high degree of certainty, about President Trump?

  • He likes winning! We all like winning, but he revels in it! He still wins club championship after club championship with a swing no one would try to mimic. He loves winning! The bigger and more beautiful the win, the better!
    • Current polls don’t show him as “winning.”
  • His attention and focus have been on Iran, but he can now shift his attention elsewhere.
    • Trump 2.0 delegates better than Trump 1.0, but nothing gets done as quickly as when he shifts his attention and focus to it. With the Iran war more or less behind us (or behind him, for now), look for him to focus on the Domestic Economy and things he can do to get his numbers higher!
    • I am going to mention Intel. From ProSec 2026 we published an entire paragraph on INTC (which is unusual for the T-Report, but was important enough that we did it). Here is the line that I want to highlight on why we were so bullish on this stock:
      • I find it difficult to see a world where the government doesn’t try to support the taxpayers’ investment in this company.
    • My thesis went well beyond that, but that is the part that we wanted to highlight! I strongly believed that the admin would support the taxpayers’ investment. On Thursday, the President put out a Truth Social post linking Apple to using Intel more. I am not sure either company confirmed it, but with only 2 weeks to go before the 250th anniversary, maybe this sort of “pump” by the President is going to be the norm?
    • We mention other companies and industries in that report (far more tickers than usual). I think we should revisit all of those tickers and a renewed focus and emphasis from D.C. on ProSec.

ProSec is going global. Europe is nearing a “Whatever it Takes” moment. Initially they started that march to the precipice kicking and screaming, while being pushed by the President and geopolitical risk. Europe is still by and large being pushed in this direction, with less kicking and screaming. There is increasing evidence that there are finally elements of leadership pulling them in that direction! (This applies to Canada too).

Bottom Line

The outlook for rates is more benign than at any time in the past few months. I’m not yet bullish, but certainly not bearish here. Look for the President to make announcements and pronouncements (I think there is a subtle difference) in the coming days as he almost certainly wants stocks to be at an all-time high and his ratings to be higher, as we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary of winning Independence!

Hope you are enjoying this long weekend and Father’s Day and now the U.S. just needs to figure out a way to wedge in a long weekend in August! We could get used to monthly long weekends.

And once again, thanks for all of your support and thoughtful feedback as the world is evolving rapidly and Academy, with its Geopolitical Intelligence Group, is positioned to help navigate that evolution sectors and focus again on what areas will do well with

Tyler Durden
Sun, 06/21/2026 – 15:10

Financial Times Hypes SpaceX’s Dismal ESG Rating By MSCI, But Really Nobody Cares

survivalnomics
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Financial Times Hypes SpaceX’s Dismal ESG Rating By MSCI, But Really Nobody Cares

The Financial Times appears eager to frame MSCI’s decision to assign SpaceX the “lowest possible ESG rating” as a major reputational blow. However, the real story is that the entire ESG movement on Wall Street has imploded, and anyone grounded in reality and common sense has increasingly viewed the whole woke era as counterproductive.

“The triple C assessment means SpaceX has the same score as that awarded to the Russian state on MSCI’s ESG government rating scale in the wake of its 2022 invasion of Ukraine,” FT journalist Ramsay Hodgson wrote. 

This same ESG ratings regime gives triple-A ratings to oil majors and major defense companies, while giving one of America’s most important rocket and space companies a bottom-tier grade. That only suggests there are major flaws in the ESG scoring model.

Here are the publicly visible MSCI ESG ratings: 

Oil/Gas

Defense

“Exxon is rated top ten best in world for environment, social & governance (ESG) by S&P 500, while Tesla didn’t make the list!” Musk wrote on X several years ago. 

Musk is right… 

Here’s what X users are saying:

Musk added, “ESG is a scam. It has been weaponized by phone social justice warriors.”

Tyler Durden
Sun, 06/21/2026 – 14:35

Trump Is Furious With Senate GOP, Puts Thune In His Crosshairs

survivalnomics
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Trump Is Furious With Senate GOP, Puts Thune In His Crosshairs

Donald Trump does not like the word “no.” He likes it even less when it comes from John Thune, the Senate majority leader whose job description apparently does not include telling the president what he wants to hear. That dynamic has now spilled into public view, and the fallout says as much about the state of the Republican Party as it does about any single piece of legislation.

The flashpoint is the SAVE America Act. The House passed it back in February, but it remains stalled in the Senate due to the Democrats’ filibuster.

The SAVE America Act would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, mandate voter ID at polling places, and sharply curtail mail-in voting. For Trump and a sizable chunk of the conservative base, this is common-sense election integrity; polls show tremendous bipartisan support for it.

Trump has grown tired of waiting. Last week, he tied the SAVE America Act to FISA Section 702 reauthorization, the surveillance authority that lets intelligence agencies monitor foreign nationals without a warrant. Congress let that authority lapse for the first time since 2008, and Trump made clear he intends to use it as leverage. “I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it,” he posted on Truth Social. That is not a man asking nicely.

Thune was unmoved.

“The president has his own mind, makes his own decisions,” he said. “So do we.”

Read that as you like, but it does not sound like a man rushing to fall in line.

According to a person close to Trump who spoke with The Wall Street Journal, the president’s frustration stems from being told “no” rather than “no, let me try.” 

A Thune ally pushed back on the Journal’s reporting, arguing the majority leader is not the real obstacle here. Trump simply does not have the votes. That is a fair point, and it gets at something deeper than personal chemistry: the SAVE America Act faces a math problem before it faces a Thune problem.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told the Journal that Thune is “telling the president the truth” and that “the problem is the president doesn’t like hearing that when it frustrates what he wants to do.” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) offered a gentler diagnosis, describing the clash as one of temperament rather than substance. Trump’s “skill set is to vocalize everything,” she said, while Thune’s is “more quietly engaging.” She added, “I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive.” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) never one to pass up a colorful comparison, likened Trump to the ruthless sales trainer from Glengarry Glen Ross during a closed-door GOP lunch, according to Punchbowl News. On the Senate math itself, Kennedy was characteristically blunt with the Journal: “I mean, I want a Porsche for my birthday. I’m not going to get it.”

Trump has not limited himself to public jabs, either. He summoned House Speaker Mike Johnson to the White House to discuss personnel disputes and the lapsed FISA law, conspicuously leaving Thune out of the conversation. He has also been quietly polling Republican senators on their views of Thune’s leadership, a clear signal that his patience with the majority leader is running thin.

Sources also told The Daily Caller that Thune privately admitted to GOP senators during a closed-door lunch on Wednesday that some Republicans simply will not back the SAVE Act because they cannot stand Trump, regardless of the bill’s merits.

The admission reportedly set off a heated exchange between Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), the bill’s chief sponsor, and colleagues, including Cornyn, who challenged Lee’s push alongside Thune.

“Yeah, that totally happened,” one source familiar with the meeting told The Daily Caller. Thune’s office denied the account outright, calling it “a baseless claim” that is “unequivocally untrue.”

A president quietly canvassing his own party and questioning the Senate majority leader’s leadership is a power struggle over who actually runs the Republican agenda. Trump clearly sees Thune as a roadblock he’s preparing to remove.

 

Tyler Durden
Sun, 06/21/2026 – 13:25

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