“It was they who carried out the coup d’etat in Ukraine, which forced us to take the people of Crimea under protection. When they started the war, they started bombing Donetsk using warplanes” – Putin in a fresh address to Russian service members came out swinging, giving a familiar lesson in recent history.

And quite provocatively, he emphasized that Russia is now practically fighting against the entirety of the collective West in the Ukraine conflict in the Friday remarks.

“Russia is standing against the so-called Collective West single-handedly,” Putin said, state media cited, and he noted that the ‘special military operation’ he ordered to stave off NATO encroachment is revealing itself to be “exceedingly high-tech.“

“The NATO nations are all, without exception, ramping up efforts to do all they can to orchestrate actions against Russia,” he added, sate media continued.

He stressed that Moscow did not initiate the Ukraine conflict, but that the Western allies and their hegemonic expansion and meddling did.

He perhaps for the first time acknowledged some pain inflicted on Russia due to Ukraine’s long-range drone waves, which for months have been inflicting serious damage primarily on oil and energy sites:

Now, Western nations have set out to “inflict a strategic defeat on Russia,” but “this is not something that can be done,” Putin said.

“The enemy is expanding the use of [kamikaze] drones… trying to strike at our morale, trying to break up Russian society… and cause economic damage,” he noted, stressing that “they will not succeed.”

These drones have grown more long-range in their targeting and increasingly effective, as Russia’s anti-air defense – which are set up primarily to intercept higher flying and faster inbound missiles or jets – seem powerless. 

Or rather, if Ukraine sends 100 drones on Russia on any given night, at least dozens are bound to make it through, the recent pattern has shown. But Putin also seems to be strongly suggesting that Western intelligence is assisting Ukraine’s drone mayhem on the Russian populace.

Images have surfaced online showing what the military-industrial plant in Cheboksary looks like after being struck by a “Flamingo” drone. The photos show that anti-drone nets had been installed around the facility, but they ultimately failed to prevent the attack. pic.twitter.com/FSK9tP96V8

— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) June 10, 2026

Earlier this month, the Putin-hosted St. Petersburg Economic Forum came under significant drone attack from Ukraine. Videos revealed that international dignitaries entered the venue against the backdrop of thick black smoke from drone hits on oil and other facilities.

Iran is dominating headlines, but Washington’s favorite bipartisan monster abroad is never too far from the sights of the hawks. Just days ago, and while the U.S. is fighting a war, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell scolded Marco Rubio for pausing a weapons shipment to Taiwan.

Last night, ZeroHedge hosted opposing think tankers to answer the question that DC likes to keep ambiguous: Should the U.S. defend Taiwan if China invades?

In the “no” corner was Doug Bandow, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, who once served as special assistant to President Ronald Reagan. Arguing “yes”, we should intervene, is the Heritage Foundation’s Steve Yates, a former deputy national security advisor to the Vice President Dick Cheney.

Below were the highlights for those who missed it:

Are We Prepared?

Bandow argued that the Taiwan debate often understates both the depth of Chinese nationalism and the possibility that a U.S.-China conflict could escalate beyond anyone’s control. He said his interactions with Chinese students while teaching summer programs convinced him that the issue is not simply the ambition of Xi Jinping but a broadly shared belief that Taiwan is part of China.

“Chinese students are very nationalistic. They all believe that Taiwan’s part of China. So this is a sentiment that is not just the folks in Zhang Nanhai. I mean, it’s not just President Xi.”

Bandow’s central warning was that threatening war requires being prepared to follow through even if events spiral. He questioned whether the United States has fully grappled with the consequences of escalation, particularly if China began losing and faced attacks on mainland targets.

“If we’re going to threaten to go to war, it’s very hard to back down… If the Chinese find themselves losing, if the Chinese find that we are attacking mainland bases, what are they likely to do? They are likely to escalate… How do we control that?”

Bandow said Taiwan is “a wonderful place” but asked whether Americans are prepared to risk their own society (and life, civilization… really everything). The key question, according to him, is not whether Taiwan deserves sympathy, but whether the United States is prepared for what could become a full-scale war with another major nuclear power.

“Are we prepared to risk our own society?… We cannot assume it would turn out well… Are we prepared for a full-scale war?”

pic.twitter.com/xEQzerBZVg

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) June 12, 2026

Fentanyl!

Yates said Beijing’s role in the fentanyl crisis is not accidental, arguing that China’s extensive surveillance apparatus makes it implausible that authorities are unaware of the scale of the trade flowing through Chinese manufacturers and financial networks.

“It’s the world’s most advanced surveillance state to the point where they literally will find images of Winnie the Pooh on Hong Kong protesters’ phones… completely implausible that they can have illicit precursors manufactured at a scale sufficient to result in half a million American fatalities counted conservatively over ten years without them knowing.”

The issue, he said, has been raised repeatedly at the highest levels of diplomacy and can no longer be dismissed as something that escaped Beijing’s attention.

“It’s not something that snuck up on them… There really is no ambiguity of where it’s coming from and at what scale.”

While Yates acknowledged he cannot prove that Chinese leaders explicitly intended to kill Americans, he argued that intent becomes harder to dismiss when the trade continues after years of warnings and mounting casualties.

“Did they say, ‘I want to do this in order to have this effect?’ Maybe, maybe not. I don’t think we’ll ever get to know… But once it is in train and moving and three presidents have raised it and the casualty numbers reached what would be considered a weapon of mass destruction level, it’s kind of hard to say that they have clean hands, or there’s no intent to allow it to happen.”

pic.twitter.com/jhZkbl3LYI

— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) June 12, 2026

Full Debate

Watch the full debate below or listen on Spotify. 

https://t.co/SyvVxuu7Gt

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 11, 2026

Authored by David Harsanyi via The Epoch Times,

It turns out that the most generous funder of white supremacist groups in the United States was likely the Southern Poverty Law Center.

At least that’s what the Department of Justice’s superseding indictment against the SPLC alleges. The organization secretly paid informants to engage in the active promotion and funding of racist groups while denouncing and “fighting” the very same groups in public.

The SPLC purportedly created fictitious entities to hide funding from their donors.

The SPLC, for instance, is accused of bankrolling the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally, paying a leader nearly $300,000 to post racist messages, organize and even transport people to the infamous Charlottesville protest, where one person was killed.

In another instance, a pair of white supremacists who approached the SPLC about leaving the Klan were encouraged to stay in the group and recruit new members.

Given salaries, the two men were allegedly reimbursed for the costs of their activities, including those “incurred for cross-burning events, to include the wood and fuel used.”

In the end, I’m not sure what the legal jeopardy there is in engaging in this brand of duplicitous activity, but it is without a doubt corrupt, fraudulent, immoral, and bad for the country.

Many people correctly point out that SPLC is merely interested in keeping white supremacist groups operational to justify its existence. White nationalists and identitarian groups have no genuine political power or support, so it makes sense that SPLC and other groups would prop them up for fundraising. The notion that Americans live in a nation of deep-seated systemic and cultural racism is a foundational belief of the American left. Having a bunch of cartoonishly racist groups running around the country not only perpetuates the myth but helps raise money.

But a far more vital objective of the SPLC is destroying the reputations of effective legitimate organizations that are involved in mainstream political debates that have absolutely nothing to do with racism or extremism.

The purpose of the “hate” maps and enemies’ lists compiled by SPLC isn’t to alert Americans about local skinheads, but to associate those skinheads with the American College of Pediatricians, Family Research Council, Ben Carson, Turning Point USA, American Family Association, and Moms for Liberty.

In 2016, for instance, the SPLC “Hate and Extremism” list added Alliance Defending Freedom, a highly effective legal organization that’s won multiple religious freedom cases in front of the Supreme Court. Oftentimes the ADF represents minority clients. Its most high-profile case involved Jack Phillips, the persecuted cake maker from Colorado whose First Amendment rights were stripped by the government. But the group also takes on cases regarding state funding for abortion or the biological males competing in girls’ sports.

You may disagree with ADF’s positions on those issues, but only an extremist progressive actually considers it a “hate” group worthy of inclusion on a list with “neo-confederates.” It’s not the pinhead “Neo Volkisch” that concerns the SPLC, it’s the impressive lawyer with the ADF.

By making their case to the press, these conservatives are wisely appealing to the SPLC’s most powerful source of influence.

Yet, the SPLC’s “hate list” has been treated as an authoritative source on extremism by virtually every legacy media outlet for years.

During the height of BLM protests and riots, The New York Times cited the SPLC as an unimpeachable authority on hate groups in hundreds of stories over a one-year span. The group was cited by the paper thousands of times over the previous decade. That’s a single media organization. From the mid-2010s through 2025, when the SPLC was sending millions to prop up the worst right-wing extremists in the country, virtually any story about rising extremism on NBC News featured the SPLC.

The question is, how can any reputable media outlet, much less a government agency, ever use the SPLC as a source again?

They’ll try.

Even now, outlets like the Associated Press refer to the SPLC as “civil rights” group.

The SPLC, formed in 1971 by civil rights activists in Montgomery, Alabama, hasn’t been fighting for the rights of African Americans for a long time. By the mid 1980s, the SPLC had already shifted away from the civil rights fight to rooting out “right-wing extremism.” In 1986, the entire legal staff, save founder Morris Dees (who was pushed out of the organization in 2019 after allegations of sexual harassment and racial discrimination), quit over the change.

The SPLC, probably superfluous when it was formed, has long been a shady left-wing activist group with a near-billion-dollar endowment. The new indictment only further confirms it was worse than we thought.

In February, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing titled “Foreign Influence in American Nonprofits: Unmasking Threats from Beijing and Beyond.” While Democrats deflected and tried to make the hearing about MAGA and free speech, the underlying topic remains important.

🧵Senate Hearing Raises Alarms Over FOREIGN INFLUENCE Looting American Pockets 📢

During a Senate subcommittee testimony chaired by @HawleyMO, @seamusbruner connected government fraud, nonprofit funding networks, migrant-based money transfers from U.S. to overseas, and the… pic.twitter.com/4V7B6n8CKf

— Government Accountability Institute (@Govt_Acct_Inst) February 11, 2026

So how bad is foreign influence in America’s nonprofit universe? It turns out: very bad.

The Muslim Brotherhood

Earlier this week, the New York Post published a story reporting that CAIR was under investigation by HHS for alleged fraud. The report referred to CAIR receiving $30 million in taxpayer dollars to resettle Afghan refugees, with little proof of how the money was spent.

In HHS letters to the governors of California and Washington, the states in which the alleged fraud occurred, the agency stated that it had been informed that “there may be connections between CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood and its Palestinian branch, Hamas.”

The governors of Texas and Florida have both designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization and a transnational criminal organization in 2025, while also taking actions against CAIR.

If CAIR is, in fact, a terror-connected foreign influence operation operating under the guise of tax-deductible American 501(c)(3) nonprofits, that should be of great concern. A look at CAIR’s current chapter directory shows approximately 30 active offices and chapters across the Homeland. That figure does not include affiliated mosques with overlapping leadership, nor former CAIR operatives who have gone on to work in government, politics, media, and related fields.

Cuban Intelligence

Just last week, Marco Rubio and the State Department sanctioned ICAP, a known front organization for the Cuban intelligence service. One might ask how this is connected to domestic nonprofits. The answer is: directly, and on a scale that is difficult for the public to understand.

Back in the 1960s, members of the radical-left student group SDS visited Fidel Castro’s communist regime in Cuba. Some members of that delegation reportedly received training in guerrilla warfare, including bomb-making techniques. A few years later, some of those individuals went on to form the Weather Underground, America’s most notorious domestic terrorist organization, which bombed nearly two dozen federal buildings.

We asked the simple question late last year:

• Is There A “Cuba Connection” Behind The Radicalization Of America’s Nonprofit Left

While members of the Weather Underground were in hiding, they allegedly passed messages to one another through the Cuban Embassy.

These radical students were trained through ICAP, a Cuban front organization that has continued hosting American left-wing activist delegations since the 1960s. In the last decade, these efforts have reportedly expanded with assistance from the National Network on Cuba (NNOC), which holds meetings at the Cuban Embassy.

The NNOC website lists 77 American nonprofit organizations as members of its network. Some of these organizations have nationwide chapter structures and multi-million-dollar budgets.

The Neville Roy Singham Network

As has been widely reported, the nonprofit network associated with Neville Roy Singham is also national in scope.

The ANSWER Coalition, which organizes national protests, lists 14 chapters on its website.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), the political party associated with this network, lists 66 chapters nationwide and is currently running candidates for public office.

CODEPINK, which has faced scrutiny regarding sanctions-related issues, lists 12 chapters on its website.

The network’s headquarters is The People’s Forum in New York City. In 23 cities, activists organize through “Liberation Centers,” which serve as hubs for local organizing, protest activity, and support for PSL political campaigns.

Domestic Politics and the DSA

Perhaps the most significant avenue through which foreign influence affects American politics is the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which has increasingly become a coalition of organizations and interests with extensive international connections.

The DSA announced in January that it had surpassed 100,000 members in 2025, including an additional 5,000 members in New York City. The organization has also celebrated a series of electoral victories, including the election of New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani. The DSA estimates that roughly 250 elected officials nationwide are affiliated with the organization, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Where did the DSA’s foreign influence begin? That is difficult to determine, but its international affiliations have expanded significantly over the last decade.

David Duhalde, who served as DSA Deputy Director from 2015 to 2018, is reportedly in a relationship with a member of Samidoun, an organization that has been designated in some jurisdictions as a front group for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

In 2017, the DSA passed a BDS resolution. Two months later, Linda Sarsour announced her membership in the organization.

In 2019, the DSA passed a Cuba solidarity resolution and joined the ICAP-connected National Network on Cuba (NNOC).

In 2023, the DSA joined Progressive International, a transnational political network whose board includes Fidel Castro’s niece, Jeremy Corbyn, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Wang Hui of Tsinghua University in Beijing, Yanis Varoufakis, and a variety of similar socialist politicians, academics, and diplomats from around the world.

Considering the scale of these networks and their ability to influence protests, elections, and public policy, the United States faces a significant challenge. The extent to which foreign actors and foreign-aligned organizations can shape domestic political movements raises legitimate questions about transparency, accountability, and national sovereignty.

Last month, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted at a regular press briefing that a coming crackdown was nearing for dark-money-funded NGOs and alleged foreign influence operations routed through far-left activist networks.

Even the globalist at The Atlantic had to admit…  

Here, the exchange between a reporter and Bessent suggests the potential enforcement phase has already begun:

Reporter: “I want to ask you about Antifa. In October, the Treasury Department started working with the FBI to investigate who’s funding Antifa. Can you give us an update on that investigation? How close are you guys finding out who is funding it?”

Scott Bessent: “It is ongoing. We made substantial progress, and I think in the weeks and months ahead, we are going to have a lot to report.”

(Bessent continues on IRS guidance for nonprofits): “The IRS is now giving guidance on the Form 990, which nonprofits they have to file. We are going to demand that nonprofits know their grant recipients. So if a grant recipient is violent, if they are suppressing people’s rights, then YOU are responsible for that. And I think that’s a very good first step.”

Watch the Exchange:

🚨 WOW! Scott Bessent just revealed the IRS has moved to make NGOs LIABLE for violent activity committed by their grant recipients like Antifa

George Soros has been put on NOTICE.

“The IRS is now giving guidance on the Form 990, which nonprofits they have to file. We are going… pic.twitter.com/15ToheHbwa

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 28, 2026

Certain NGOs and left-wing activist networks have evolved far beyond traditional nonprofit missions of charity and public benefit, instead functioning as a permanent protest-industrial complex advancing anti-capitalist and anti-Western agendas. This has fueled unrest, mobilized protests, psyops, and worked to obstruct President Trump’s pro-America agenda under the banner of social justice.

Way more than $100M of US taxpayer money

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 8, 2025

Bitcoin Policy Institute exposed:

All eyes are now on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s expected crackdown.

Submitted by Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

India may be on track to miss its target for budget deficit for the first time since 2021 as the oil supply shock pressures government coffers.

The government of the world’s third-largest crude oil importer is preparing to exceed its own deficit target from early this year as the Middle East crisis is testing the resilience of public finances amid soaring energy import bills, an Indian official with knowledge of the plans told Bloomberg on Friday.

India may allow the budget deficit to widen to 4.8% of GDP for the current fiscal year ending March 2027, up from a 4.3% limit set in February, days before the Iran war broke out and broke the oil and gas markets.  

Still, India’s Finance Ministry has reassured the major credit rating agencies that the deterioration of the country’s fiscal position would be exclusively due to external pressures and the geopolitical situation, not because of changes to the fiscal policy, the official told Bloomberg.

India is scrambling to contain the economic and financial impact of the worst oil supply disruption in history as analysts say the high oil prices would continue to weigh on the Indian currency, economic growth, and public finances as long as supply is choked at the Strait of Hormuz.

India, which imports more than 85% of the oil it consumes, received about half of all its imports from the Middle East before the war. Now, state-owned and private refiners are looking to diversify imports, including by taking in record volumes of Russian oil, and turning to Venezuela and Brazil for additional crude to offset the lost Middle Eastern supply.

The major crude importer has seen its growth prospects diminished as its high import dependence and the high price refiners pay weigh on inflation and GDP growth.  

India’s economy remains resilient to the external shocks, but the oil price surge poses near-term downside risks to economic growth and upside risks to inflation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said at the end of May.

By the middle of March during Trump’s Operation Epic Fury, Iran was flexing its retaliatory might, and the Gulf region was shocked to see the largest natural-gas production facility in the world, Qatar’s North Field, badly damaged – with a key section forced offline and severely damaged.

The Washington Post has just provided some new information which has come to light, writing that “There was an additional, hidden consequence. The strike also dashed secret efforts by Qatar to keep its gas complex, known as Ras Laffan, off Iran’s target list, according to Middle Eastern security officials and Western officials briefed on the intelligence.”

This after the punishing Iranian strikes (against a nearby Arab state which hosts US forces) “destroyed sections of a plant that provides nearly a fifth of the globe’s gas supply, imperiled multibillion-dollar contracts with China and other clients, and damaged the prospects of finding an earlier end to the war by dragging Qatar, a key mediator between the United States and Iran, into the fight” – WaPo also reviewed.

That ‘secret negotiations’ were being held apart from the US – or also separately from other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states is indeed significant, highlighting a theme that Tehran continues to seek to assert leverage by forcing nations to come make side deals – even as the Islamic Republic comes under US bombs and Western pressure.

If it is indeed accurate that Gulf nations are approaching Iran to do individual separate deals, this is for now a diplomatic ‘win’ for Tehran. Separate deal-making, peeling others away from a united front and bloc, gives Iran some greater leverage and also flexibility in terms of potential post-war economic and political detente with regional states.

The UAE, it was reported earlier this week in Bloomberg, has also reportedly reached its own ‘understanding’ with the Iranians after some backroom dealing and diplomacy.

Authored by City News Service via The Epoch Times,

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on June 11 suspended federal funding to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), cutting off millions of dollars to the L.A. region, over allegations of fraud and widespread mismanagement.

HUD Secretary Scott Turner testifies before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development about his department’s proposed FY2026 budget in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 14, 2026. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

HUD action to suspend federal funding comes in the wake of an investigation into LAHSA, Secretary Scott Turner announced Thursday, adding that the agency has “uncovered evidence of LAHSA’s false statements and its irresponsible actions and failures,” including a lack of financial management and lack of safeguards against conflicts of interest.

The Los Angeles Continuum of Care (CoC), led by LAHSA, has received nearly $1 billion in taxpayer dollars over the last five years. Despite federal assistance, L.A. remains the epicenter of the nation’s “drug-fueled” homeless crisis, according to Turner.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, HUD will fund results, not corrupt failure or the homeless-industrial complex,” Turner said in a statement. “Year after year, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were funneled to LAHSA with little accountability. Meanwhile, homelessness skyrocketed. Taxpayers will no longer bankroll an organization that puts its own self-interests ahead of the Americans it was created to serve.”

HUD stated in a letter to LAHSA that suspension of funding will be final if the agency does not contest the notice by requesting a hearing. LAHSA must file a written hearing request within 30 days of receipt of the notice.

LAHSA officials pushed backed on the federal government’s claims, stating that its actions could put thousands of formerly homeless people back on the street.

“LAHSA received a letter from HUD announcing a suspension of CoC funding. After initial review, this appears to be a blatant attempt to pull yet more resources from Los Angeles, a city they have targeted time and again, when it is clear that LAHSA has either corrected or is in the process of correcting nearly all of the issues raised,” according to a statement from LASHA.

The organization maintained that local oversight actions have already resulted in strong repairs and reforms to LAHSA’s internal controls, which officials said are “accountable and viewable to the public.”

“If HUD’s Inspector General actually conducts a fair review of LAHSA’s current and future practices, they will clearly see how our systems now allow us to clearly track the work and investments that have resulted in L.A. outperforming the nation by reducing homelessness over the last two years,” LAHSA said in it’s statement.

A homeless encampment in Los Angeles, on Jan. 7, 2026. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

“While the review plays out, our immediate priority is to explore all available options to ensure that federal funds continue to support the thousands of people who have been housed through LAHSA and our broader rehousing system,” the statement continued.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass expressed deep concern about HUD’s announcement, according to her office.

“Mayor Bass, too, has grave concerns about LAHSA and zero tolerance for mismanagement and negligence, which is why she previously directed the city to evaluate how to move away from the agency,” according to a statement from her office.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaks during an event in Los Angeles on May 8, 2026. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

“Threatening federal funds does nothing to house people and jeopardizes the progress Mayor Bass has led to reduce homelessness for two years in a row, after it only went up in Los Angeles for years. Ultimately, people will lose their lives. We urge HUD to work with the city of Los Angeles to provide the necessary funding to reduce homelessness,” the statement continued.

County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath described HUD’s decision as a publicity stunt.

“I have been calling for change and accountability at LAHSA, but if this administration desires accountability, too, they should work WITH L.A. County,” Horvath said in a statement.

Lindsey Horvath speaks onstage at the 2019 Women’s March Los Angeles in Los Angeles on Jan. 19, 2019. Araya Diaz/Getty Images for Women’s March Los Angeles

HUD’s investigation found what it described as a “clear pattern of fraud.”

For example, in August 2023, LAHSA could not determine whether it used funding to pay for empty hotel rooms because the agency failed to record when individuals exited transitional motel housing, according to HUD.

Federal officials cited findings from a November 2024 audit conducted by L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia, which found LAHSA failed to spend approximately $513 million in homelessness funding budgeted for that year.

A letter from HUD referenced the resignation letter of former LAHSA CEO Va Lecia Adams Kellum, who stepped down last year. Her decision came after the L.A. County Board of Supervisors decided to move $300 million and hundreds of workers away from the homeless agency into the new Department of Homeless Services and Housing.

An investigation by LAist found Kellum signed a $2.1 million contract with a nonprofit organization that employed her husband.

LAHSA has faced criticism for providing late payments to service providers, maintaining inadequate records and failing to monitor contract and spending more accurately.

The agency has implemented new policies, and created online public dashboards to address these issues.

Los Angeles city and county officials have also made moves to improve transparency and accountability regarding homeless funding, as well as to ensure better outcomes of programs and services.

People approach a woman resting in a homeless encampment in Los Angeles, on Jan. 7, 2026. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Despite the allegations that Los Angeles has failed to reduce homelessness, officials said recent data showed significant progress.

In June, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced California achieved the largest reduction in unsheltered homelessness in the nation last year, and saw the largest decline in unsheltered homelessness since 2009, citing HUD’s data.

Los Angeles experienced a 10.3 percent drop in unsheltered homelessness, with the largest regional drop nationwide, according to HUD’s data.

The Los Angeles region saw the first decline in homelessness starting in 2024. LAHSA’s 2025 point-in-time count showed there was a 4 percent decrease in homeless people across the county, while in the city of Los Angeles, there was a 3.4 percent drop.

Data showed that unsheltered homelessness in the county declined by 9.5 percent in 2025 compared to the prior year, and it has dropped by 14 percent over the last two years. Additionally, there has been about an 8.5 percent increase of unhoused individuals entering interim housing, such as shelters and other forms of temporary housing.

In the city of L.A., unsheltered homelessness declined by 7.9 percent in 2025, and it has dropped by 17.5 percent over the last two years. LAHSA reported there has been a 4.7 percent increase in unhoused individuals entering temporary housing in the city.

Summary: 

• Musk Becomes A Trillionaire 

• SpaceX IPO Opens Up $150, above $135 IPO price

• SpaceX IPO Shares To Trade 29% Higher Than IPO Price 

• Liftoff: SpaceX Gray-Market Trading Signals 35% IPO Pop

Vanda SPCX IPO update:

SpaceX is on track to become the biggest IPO debut for retail investors in recent history. Coinbase previously held that crown after attracting $92 mn of retail net buying on its first day back in April 2021. SpaceX has already surpassed every other major… https://t.co/xu52Q55eFS pic.twitter.com/OXag8eJaky

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 12, 2026

Incidentally, this is where Polymarket predicted the stock would open ahead of the first indications:

POLYMARKET PROJECTS $174 OPENING SPACEX SHARE PRICE, IMPLYING A 29% OPENING POP. pic.twitter.com/afwBPgDgWf

— Polymarket Money (@PolymarketMoney) June 12, 2026

Late in the cash session, hours after SpaceX shares began trading around $150, the stock surged to $176.52, up 31% from the $135 IPO price.

Musk earlier…

Very inspiring words from Elon Musk today:

“I always think about this. There are always problems on earth. There’s always things that we wish to be better, that we want to solve on Earth, and we should solve them. But there there also has to be things that get you excited… pic.twitter.com/A9auOI1Daf

— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) June 12, 2026

Valor Equity Partners founder Antonio Gracias spoke to CNBC about SpaceX: “And what we’re building is the entire stack from, energy to compute, to launch to orbital compute.” 

ANTONIO GRACIAS on @SpaceX: “We have 20,000 people here. They’re some of the best engineers in the world.

“And what we’re building is the entire stack from, energy to compute, to launch to orbital compute.

“What an investor is buying today, we’ve been buying for really 20… pic.twitter.com/5U86JV8n3Y

— Katie Miller (@KatieMiller) June 12, 2026

The key threshold was $140; above that level, Musk became the world’s first trillionaire on paper. This caused a meltdown among Democrats and their left-wing comrades…

• “Reckless Propaganda”: Globe And Mail Op-Ed Tells Readers “How To Properly Hate” Elon Musk Ahead Of SpaceX IPO

Meanwhile, China-linked Neville Roy Singham’s NGO network appears to be firing up its anti-capitalist propaganda machine, and the timing is no accident. These leftists view Musk as a major threat because he just gained a whole lot of political firepower, with fresh capital that can be deployed into pro-America candidates, causes, and institutions that directly challenge the left’s progressive empire.

Latest from Bloomberg:

• The record-setting IPO attracted more than $350 billion in demand from institutions and retail investors after its debut on Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas under the symbol SPCX

• Everyday investors jumped on the stock, but those using Robinhood Markets Inc. encountered glitches in the first minutes of trading that appeared to recede by about 12:30 p.m. in New York

• Shares climbed as much as 31% in their debut, propelling Musk’s wealth even further

• Options contracts on SpaceX will start trading on Tuesday. Demand is expected to be high for the derivatives, which allow investors to bet on future stock moves or insure against a drop

Trillionaire Musk 

Our view in 2024:

• Elon Musk Projected To Be World’s First Trillionaire By 2027, Fueled By Space Race Bets

SpaceX Begins Trading 

SpaceX shares opened up at $150 per share, priced above the $135 IPO price. 

Lead-left underwriter has a message: 

Go for Launch 🚀 pic.twitter.com/F4gOY6pdDK

— Goldman Sachs (@GoldmanSachs) June 12, 2026

Elon Musk has been minted, well, on paper, the world’s first trillionaire. 

🚨 BREAKING — IT’S OFFICIAL: Elon Musk becomes the world’s first TRILLIONAIRE as SpaceX goes public

This is absolutely MONUMENTAL. Congratulations @ElonMusk!

To the moon! 🚀$SPCX is set to start trading at $135 per share imminently, valuing the company around $1.8 TRILLION. pic.twitter.com/hyyMcHC4Rc

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) June 12, 2026

The left is furious with Musk’s trillionaire status. Why?

Well… 

• “Reckless Propaganda”: Globe And Mail Op-Ed Tells Readers “How To Properly Hate” Elon Musk Ahead Of SpaceX IPO

Space stocks are getting hammered as “sell the proxies, buy the leader” emerges: 

• $SPCE -24%
• $ASTS -11%
• $VOYG -10%
• $LUNR -10%
• $FLY -9%
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Wall Street Goes SPCX Bull

Wolfe Research analyst Myles Walton initiates an “Outperform” rating for SPCX with a $175 price target:

SpaceX turned a competitive moat into an ocean of opportunity that we don’t see others crossing. Bringing (internal) cost of launch to near-zero alongside a willingness to push boundaries of scale support out-of-this-world near-term valuation. Initiate Outperform/$175 PT

Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan initiates a “Buy” rating on SPCX with a $190 price target:

We believe SPCX intends to converge communications and cloud/AI using space- based infrastructure. We see potential for SPCX to leverage terrestrial compute expertise as a bridge (and possible back-up plan) to enable key scale and cost advantages. We see it as the only vertically-integrated AI company with the required capital, data, LLMs, hardware, manufacturing and engineering talent. We note significant regulatory, technology, execution, keyman and investor expectation risks remain and that thermal management of chips for space applications in space within four years appears challenging. However, its space infrastructure appears structurally advantaged. We note terrestrial DC capabilities include highest velocity/lowest cost DCs (Colossus) which combined with V3s and Cursor will drive 2027-30E revenues. We initiate coverage with an Outperform rating/$190 PT at the IPO price of $135.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives: 

We also believe the SpaceX anticipation has caused some added volatility in the market especially in the tech sector as traders/investors anticipate the ripple impact of this historical IPO. Overall, SpaceX going public is an important moment for the broader tech sector in our view as this AI Revolution and data takes this next step forward

. . . 

We still Expect Tesla and SpaceX to Merge in 2027 Post-IPO.

Bloomberg Intelligence ESG analyst Rob Du Boff: 

“Based on the indicated opening of $168.75 a share, SpaceX would get a weighting of 0.14% in the Russell 1000 and 0.92% in the Nasdaq 100 in a few weeks. That implies $6.6 billion in forced buying from funds tied to those indexes”

Huatai Research analyst LI Yujie: 

Low free float + index buying to underpin tight near-term S/D after listing SpaceX’s IPO is expected to become one of the largest listings in US stock market history. Potential passive buying could exceed USD10bn. After the offering, total market cap is expected to be c.USD1.77tn. Initial free-float market cap is expected to be c.USD75.0-86.3bn, implying a float ratio of only c.4.25%-4.86%. Tradable shares may be relatively limited in the early listing period. Given the company’s large market cap and Nasdaq listing venue, SpaceX could be included relatively quickly in major indices such as the Nasdaq Composite, Nasdaq-100, CRSP, Russell, and MSCI after listing. This would bring near-term passive allocation demand. Based on the size of verifiable index products, potential passive buying is estimated at c.USD9.1-11.3bn. If we further include extended market indices and broader passive funds, the upper end of the range could be revised up to USD14.0-16.0bn. Overall, the market impact in the early stage of SpaceX’s listing may not simply come from the liquidity siphon of IPO fundraising. It is more likely to appear as near-term supply-demand tightness caused by “low initial float + intensive index buying”. However, after the 2Q26 and 3Q26 results and subsequent staggered lock-up expiries, tradable supply should gradually increase. The market impact is likely to shift from short-term demand driven to supply release and valuation digestion.

SpaceX Trading Imminent  

The SpaceX IPO is set to begin trading momentarily. Shares are indicated to open 29% above the IPO price. 

Ahead of the public market debut, SpaceX has revealed that the IPO is expected to draw more than $350 billion in demand. There are indications that $250 billion is coming from institutional orders, while about 20% of shares have been allocated to retail.

• SpaceX record ipo is said to draw over $350 billion in demand

• SpaceX ipo said to draw over $250 billion in institutional orders

• SpaceX said to place 20% of ipo shares to retail investors

• SpaceX said to sell 70% of institutional book to long-only, swfs

Latest headlines:

• CNBC Television: SpaceX president: “I wasn’t sure we would go public” 

• CNBC Television: SpaceX public debut set to be a big day for employees who own the stock

• CNBC Television: $140 SpaceX per share makes Musk a trillionaire

North of $140 per share, Musk becomes a trillionaire …. Indications right now show $175 per share. 

Liftoff: SpaceX Gray-Market Trading Signals 35% IPO Pop 

Trader sentiment has sharply reversed after President Trump canceled the planned strikes and negotiators signaled progress toward a potential U.S.-Iran peace deal.

Risk assets are catching a bid Friday morning, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures both up roughly 30 bps. Treasurys are also rallying, with yields down 8 to 10 bps across the curve, led by the belly, and the 10-year yield is around 4.45%.

The timing could not be better for Elon Musk. SpaceX shares are set to hit public markets in the coming hours, potentially making Musk the world’s first trillionaire on paper and minting roughly 4,000 employee millionaires. SpaceX’s public market debut comes as themes of artificial intelligence and the space economy ramp up.

Already, pre-IPO trading in the derivatives linked to SpaceX shows a potential first-day surge of 30% to 50%.

IG International pricing implied a market value near $2.4 trillion on Friday morning, more than 35% above the company’s $135 IPO price and $1.77 trillion valuation.

On Hyperliquid, SpaceX-linked perpetual futures traded at $175-$180, implying a valuation above $2.3 trillion, with 24-hour volume of more than $224 million and open interest of over $252 million.

Late in the U.S. cash session on Thursday, SpaceX filed a free writing prospectus (FWP) which confirmed the company sold 555.6 million shares at $135 each, for a total size of $75 billion (excluding the greenshoe), making history with the biggest-ever IPO, launching it into the top ranks of the largest public companies and putting founder Elon Musk on the verge of becoming the world’s first trillionaire.

For context, SpaceX is more than double the size of the previous largest IPO – Saudi Aramco’s $29.4 billion listing in 2019. The SpaceX registration statement was declared effective on Thursday.

The pricing details are shown below.

At $135, SpaceX will have a market value of $1.77 trillion. Accounting for employee stock options and restricted share units, the pricing gives it a fully diluted valuation of about $1.8 trillion. SpaceX’s market value will rank it among the top 10 public companies globally, and make it larger even than Musk’s own Tesla.

According to Polymarket, there is a 84% chance the IPO closes above its offering price tomorrow, and a 46% chance it rises more than 20%.

Nearly 50% odds on Polymarket that SPCX rises 20% ($2.2TN market cap) on its first day of trading, and 84% odds it closes above its offering price. https://t.co/UfN4FOlP7T pic.twitter.com/6U0S0HDyt1

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 11, 2026

Odds on Polymarket are surging that today’s market cap will close between $2 and $2.5 trillion. 

Odds of a big SpaceX first day gain rising sharply: now probability of a 20% gain (>$2.2TN) at 62%, up from 20% yesterday, and a 30% gain (>$2.4TN) at 46% https://t.co/d9qNMLY5vi pic.twitter.com/j3bQSVWUyU

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 12, 2026

According to Bloomberg data, Wall Street analysts, including one from New Street Research, Oppenheimer, and KGI Securities, have all rated SpaceX “Buy” with an average 12-month price target of $189.

Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan published a note on Thursday, initiating coverage of SpaceX with a $190 price target and a “Buy” rating.

Horan’s bull thesis:

We believe SPCX intends to converge communications and cloud/AI using space- based infrastructure. We see potential for SPCX to leverage terrestrial compute expertise as a bridge (and possible back-up plan) to enable key scale and cost advantages. We see it as the only vertically-integrated AI company with the required capital, data, LLMs, hardware, manufacturing and engineering talent. We note significant regulatory, technology, execution, keyman and investor expectation risks remain and that thermal management of chips for space applications in space within four years appears challenging. However, its space infrastructure appears structurally advantaged. We note terrestrial DC capabilities include highest velocity/lowest cost DCs (Colossus) which combined with V3s and Cursor will drive 2027-30E revenues. We initiate coverage with an Outperform rating/$190 PT at the IPO price of $135.

His key points:

• Robust public currency is key to business strategy. We believe access to capital is essential for CEO Elon Musk’s long-term AI vision in order to fund dominant communications and compute capacity along with acquisitions of AI companies. Eventual Tesla merger is plausible, but near term we believe the cos. will remain a quasi-vertically integrated ecosystem to provide access to capital.

• Large markets, but critical technology risk remains. We believe SPCX could address a $10T TAM by 2035E, but note that critical enabling-technology commercialization for space-based DCs remains uncertain, notably for thermally resistant chips, and costs could prove noncompetitive even if SPCX successfully builds chips. Should technology development be delayed, we see potential to leverage core expertise in terrestrial DC buildouts to support AI plans.

• Starship is crucial for success. SPCX is targeting 10K launches/year (27/day) totaling ~1.4B kg to deploy 1M datacenters and 100K communication satellites to support 1TW of its own manufactured chips. We believe this is only possible with capital/Starship, the most complex machine ever built. We expect growth to accelerate in 2027E as Starship enters commercial service and as AI LLMs/ infrastructure begin to see market traction.

• LEO communications capacity to grow 100x, at a $10/subscriber/month cost. Goal is to have a majority of AI compute, offered in space at lowest cost. We see 230M broadband subs in a decade, and 240GW of compute vs. global current capacity of 100GW. The communications technology is solved, the compute is not. There are a half dozen other, large long-term industries.

• Expect high volatility, with shares trading up initially. We anticipate an initial demand/supply imbalance on SPCX shares given broad retail demand and accelerated index inclusion. Our $190 PT ($2.5T firm value) is based on our DCF and 2035E revenue/EBITDA of ~$0.9T/$0.5T, requiring ~$1.6T in cumulative CapEx/spectrum and $300M more funding.

Separately, IG analyst Fabien Yip noted, “Demand has been good for the IPO and there is a lot of interest in the pre-IPO trading as well,” adding, “We have had so far even with the valuation looking stretched. If the pre-IPO pricing momentum sustains, it will set a precedent for the next mega-IPOs.”

Yet Morningstar analysts, Elizabeth Warren, and lefty pension funds have all tried to kill the hype cycle leading up to today’s world’s largest IPO.

Submitted By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

The on-and-off U.S. sanctions on Russian oil and the flipping U.S. position regarding India’s oil purchases from Russia highlight the double standards of the Western nations, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday.

India turned en masse to Russian oil in 2022, when the U.S. and the EU imposed sanctions on Moscow due to the invasion of Ukraine. Four years later, India is a major buyer of Russia’s crude and Russia is India’s single-largest oil supplier.

“At that time, the US specifically asked India to buy Russian oil to stabilize the oil market,” Jaishankar was quoted as saying at an event in Finland, referring to the situation on the market in 2022.

India buys oil based on price and availability, the foreign minister said in response to reporters’ remarks that India is “too sympathetic to Russia” and “too willing to buy oil from Russia”.

“Circumstances pushed us in a certain direction,” NDTV World quoted Jaishankar as saying.

The U.S. lifted sanctions on Russian oil this year after the Iran war pushed oil prices well above $100 per barrel in April, after having slapped tariffs on India for buying Russian crude.

“Let’s not pretend there’s some great principle involved here. I don’t think making this about sanctimony is really warranted,” the Indian minister said.

In the current supply crisis, Indian refiners have secured crude supply at least through August as they boost purchases from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Africa, and Brazil.

As supply from the Middle East crashes, India is buying growing volumes of crude from West African producers Nigeria and Angola, as well as from South American producers Brazil and Venezuela.

India is now also the key importer of currently de-sanctioned Russian crude on water. Russia has remained India’s top crude supplier in the past two months, thanks to the waivers from the U.S., the same country that was insisting early this year that India slash purchases of Russian oil.

As the U.S. men’s national soccer team kicks off its first match against Paraguay in Southern California on Friday night, large swaths of the country are trapped in what feels like a wet sauna, with dangerous heat and humidity forcing households to crank up their air conditioning and straining power grids from the Southeast to the Northeast.

On Thursday, the Department of Energy issued an emergency order to mitigate blackout risks across the Carolinas amid extreme heat that threatens to sharply increase power demand.

The order, issued under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, allows Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress to run certain generating units at maximum output.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright stated, “Maintaining affordable, reliable, and secure power in the Duke Energy service territory is non-negotiable.”

“The previous administration’s energy subtraction policies weakened the grid, leaving Americans more vulnerable during events like this. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are reversing those failures and using every available tool ensuring Americans in the Carolinas’ have continued access to affordable, reliable, and secure energy to power and cool their homes,” Wright said.

⚠️🔥 One day left of the oppressively hot and humid conditions. A few severe storms will be possible again this afternoon and evening, but not everyone will get a storm. It will turn much less humid for Saturday, but high temperatures will remain in the upper 80s to near 90°. pic.twitter.com/pi6sJDUwKp

— NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) June 12, 2026

Maximum temperatures across the Mid-Atlantic, especially around Washington, D.C., have ranged from the 80s to the 90s, reaching as high as 95°F on Thursday. Some relief is expected this weekend, but temperatures are forecast to rebound next week as heat builds back into the region.

“It’s super humid in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, but relief is coming by Saturday,” Meteorologist Ben Noll wrote on X.

It’s super humid in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, but relief is coming by Saturday!

After a brief spike in humidity on Sunday, much more comfortable conditions will arrive early next week. pic.twitter.com/ZN4ilGdMuv

— Ben Noll (@BenNollWeather) June 12, 2026

Bloomberg noted that grid stress materialized late Thursday, with PJM real-time power prices rising above $1,300 per megawatt-hour as sweltering heat lingered across the Mid-Atlantic. New York’s grid operator prepared to activate emergency demand response, while New England’s grid operator declared abnormal conditions as heat indices approached 100°F.

US SPOT POWER PRICES REACH RECORD HIGH OVER $1,000 PER MWH AT PJM WEST HUB IN PENNSYLVANIA AND MARYLAND

we are about to have a very shrill discussion about data center power use

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 27, 2026

We have seen four-digit territory before. As we covered in April when PJM prices shattered $1,000/MWh after first running during the January freeze to $2,300+, the same structural weakness keeps reappearing. Demand surges, variable resources drop off, and the system leans on whatever thermal capacity can still run.

It is the direct consequence of a generation mix that has shed firm, dispatchable megawatts faster than it has replaced them with anything that actually shows up when the forecast is wrong and the temperature is not. 

The blackout in Spain is a phenomenal example of when this is taken to the extreme. And based on some recent warnings from ERCOT, Texas could be the next example.

When push comes to shove on the electric grid, it’s not the renewables that are there to help…

Sleep tight America. We got this. Thousands of coal miners, truck drivers, railroaders, river boat workers and power plant employees will make sure that you stay warm and safe on a cold winter night. Fuel Satisfaction. Affordable Power. Grid Reliability. All from American Coal. pic.twitter.com/io0dzRD6vu

— WV Coal Association (@WV_coal1) January 27, 2026

Renewables and batteries help at the margin on good days. They do not solve the evening ramp or multi-day heat dome when every household and every server farm is pulling maximum power. The emergency waiver for Duke is the quiet admission that the current fleet cannot carry the load without violating the operating permits it was given.

Nuclear is the obvious technology that could have filled this gap with carbon-free, always-available capacity. A fleet of new reactors sited years ago would be delivering gigawatts of firm power right now without anyone needing to waive emissions rules or beg demand response programs to shed load.

Instead, the United States has spent the better part of four decades adding almost no new nuclear capacity at commercial scale. As we have documented repeatedly, including in our coverage of the NRC’s new fast-track permitting framework promising 6–12 month construction permit timelines, the regulatory environment has improved dramatically under the current administration. Yet the shovels in the dirt remain conspicuously absent for most projects.

Meanwhile… 

NHC expanding cone ( though still minor) to the concern I have been showing for a couple of days now pic.twitter.com/rYhTRvtpvI

— The American Storm (@BigJoeBastardi) June 12, 2026

On watch for tropical activity in the Gulf of America.