Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

September, so far, is living up to its reputation. The market slipped to the 50-day moving average, with the tape taking orders from crude oil. For the week, crude rose about 9% over four sessions, which pulled the 10-year Treasury yield higher right along with it, closing just under 5%. The corners of the market that hate higher rates slid while the S&P 500 dipped 0.68% to close the week at 7,666. However, that rather lackluster headline conveniently hides the real story beneath it.

Take a look at the spread between markets. Small caps fell 2.38% while the Dow dropped 1.51%. The equal-weight S&P index gave up 1.87% while the cap-weighted index, by contrast, lost less than a point. The Nasdaq-100 barely budged, declining just 0.52%. When the average stock falls three times as hard as the index, leadership is narrowing, not broadening. As we have flagged in recent notes on the AI complex, a market carried by a handful of names runs with a thin margin for error.

Of course, the big news this week was the inflation data, which gave the bond market the excuse it needed. Headline CPI ran at 3.4% over the past year, and remains sticky, while core CPI remained at 2.4%, just above the Fed’s target.

On the producer price side, inflation told a louder story, with PPI jumping 0.4% on the month and the annual rate accelerating to 5.4% from 4.8%. However, that number, while higher than expected, will be revised lower with the benchmark revisions at the end of the month.

Overall, it was goods pricing that did the damage, which rose 1.1%, with diesel alone leaping 24%. Even core producer prices printed at 4.6%. However, while the bond market was jolted, the reality is that this was an oil shock rather than a sign of an overheating economy. The former doesn’t justify a Fed rate hike; the latter would. Neither report was a disaster, but neither one gives the Fed a clean reason to hike rates.

On a cross-asset review, the moves fit a “rate scare.” Gold fell, the dollar remained flat, and volatility lifted off its lows without anything close to panic. However, the real story remained below the surface in the cyclical and rate-sensitive groups, which dragged lower all week.

The Fed meets Tuesday and Wednesday next week, with the market still leaning toward a quarter-point hike. Firm headline inflation and a crude oil spike are not the backdrop a central bank is likely to hike into, particularly with a softening labor market.

Watch the long end into the decision. If oil keeps running and the 10-year pushes above 5%, the multiple on this market gets much harder to defend. The narrow leadership that propped everything up all summer would be the first thing to give way, which wouldn’t be a surprising outcome for the month of September heading into the midterm election cycle.

💰 This Time Is Different?

For every secular bull market, there is an eventual secular bear market. The next leg of the full-market cycle inevitably begins where everyone believes “this time is different.” There were two important charts this past week that should at least lend a momentary pause. The first was from Ned Davis Research, showing the market (on a log scale) is now trading above the upper limit of its long-term trend. The previous extreme was in early 2000, for reference.

Secondly, corporate earnings just broke above a trend that had contained them for more than 90 years.

Currently, it is not surprising that, given the advancement of AI, surging earnings growth, and bullish markets, investors inevitably come to believe that “this time is different.” The question we want to explore today is “Is it really different this time,” or just a normal secular cycle playing out in real time?  

Earlier this month, I argued the AI bears are right about the excess but may be wrong on the trade. So let’s put the bull case on trial and see what holds.

What’s Actually Driving The Breakout

Let’s start with the good news, because there is plenty of it. Second-quarter S&P 500 earnings grew roughly 31% year over year on an adjusted basis, well ahead of the 23% the Street had penciled in before the season. Bloomberg calls it the strongest non-recession-recovery profit growth in its data going back to 1992. AI infrastructure did most of the heavy lifting. By BlackRock’s math, AI-related names drove close to 60% of the index’s earnings growth, and three hyperscalers account for roughly 70% of what analysts expect for the full year.ar.

Yes, there are reasons to be skeptical of the earnings growth, such as one-time investment gains that are boosting the numbers. However, there is a part that the bears keep glossing over. The rest of the index is finally pulling its weight as well. When you strip out energy, and the AI build, and the other roughly 490 companies still grew earnings 14% in the second quarter, a number that would headline most years on its own. The “broadening” everyone keeps asking for is finally showing up in the profit data itself, not the hope column.

This rally is earnings-led, not multiple-led, and that single fact is what separates it from 2000. Look at the revisions. Forward earnings estimates have climbed for most of the year, while the forward multiple has drifted lower. Price has been chasing profits, not the other way around. Hyperscaler capital spending is running north of $700 billion this year, up more than 80%, funded out of cash flow rather than junk debt. Furthermore, the hyperscaler capex is REAL. The question was never whether the spending exists. The question is what you pay to own the earnings it produces.

The Pain Trade Still Points Higher

However, the real risk to the bear case lies in the sentiment. You have a market compounding 30% earnings growth, and investors are positioned as if a recession just started. Sentiment across both the AAII survey and Goldman’s own indicator sits firmly bearish. Nasdaq-100 short interest is up 35% since June. A sharp third-quarter de-grossing has pushed fundamental long/short net leverage into the 6th percentile of the past year, gross tech exposure sits in the 43rd percentile, and roughly $163 billion in cash is parked on the sidelines waiting for a pullback that refuses to arrive.

Of course, the obvious is: “If everyone is already bearish, isn’t that itself the bullish tell?” The answer to that is “mostly, yes.” Strong earnings, light positioning, elevated shorts, and a mountain of idle cash are the exact ingredients of a “pain trade” that grinds higher and forces the underinvested to chase. Such is the setup that keeps me long into the highs even while I distrust them.

A good example is that single-stock short interest just hit its highest level in more than fifteen years. Every one of those shorts is a future buyer the moment the tape refuses to break. That’s fuel, not a warning, at least for now. The warning is in the next section.

The Asterisk On “This Time Is Different”

Here’s the problem with the clean bull story. The multiple only looks reasonable because it’s sitting on peak earnings. The S&P trades near 25.6 times trailing profits. That runs above the long-run average, and it runs above the typical reading at prior bull-market peaks. The Shiller CAPE just hit 41, its 96th percentile since 1980, a zone AQR ties to something like 3.9% annual returns over the next decade.

While there is a lot of focus on the market price, the risk was never really the “P.” It’s the “E.” When earnings break above a trend that held for ninety years, they are, by definition, above trend. And above-trend things are the things that mean-revert. A “reasonable” forward multiple computed on earnings that later prove to be a cycle peak is one of the oldest traps in the book. Such is the quiet danger in every “this time is different” market: the story is usually true right up until the math stops cooperating.

How These Breakouts Usually End

As we have discussed previously, Bob Farrell’s Rule #4 has aged well for a reason. “Exponential moves,” he wrote, “usually go further than you think, but they do not correct by going sideways.” That’s the uncomfortable geometry of a breakout above a nine-decade trend. It can extend beyond the skeptics’ ability to stay solvent, and it can still end with a snap rather than a slow drift back. Both things are true at once.

So, in my view, there are only two ways this will eventually resolve, and the market is currently pricing the first option with near 100% certainty.

1. Either AI capital spending converts into durable returns and record margins hold, in which case earnings grow into the price, and the bull runs on. Or,
2. Capex depreciation starts hitting the income statement, AI demand hits an air pocket, margins normalize, and profits fall back toward the trend they just escaped.

Here is the most important point. Whatever event causes the “E” to revert towards its long-term mean, the “P” will be repriced lower. I laid out the arithmetic of that second path in Why Crashes, Timing and Valuations Still Matter, and the math is unforgiving.

Nothing about a valid breakout tells you which path you’re on until you’re well down it. That’s precisely why you don’t have to pick. You participate in the move while it runs, and you pre-commit to the exit before it ends.

 What Next?

I will tell you one thing: you have to give the bulls their credit. This past week was the perfect setup for a sharp sell-off in the market.  Corporate buybacks are sidelined, interest rates spiked, and oil surged, pushing inflation higher. If there was ever a case for a pullback, it was this past week. Nonetheless, the correction that we have discussed over the last two weeks stopped right where the first line of support sits. The S&P 500 closed the week at 7,666, down 0.68%. The part that matters happened on Thursday, with the index trading down to 7,595 and closing dead on its 50-day moving average near 7,600. That was our initial downside target, and the market met it up to that point before Friday’s bounce lifted the price back above the line.

While the 50-DMA held on the first test, overall momentum remains another matter. RSI sits at 50.9, dead neutral, down from the high-50s a week ago. The MACD signal has crossed below its signal line, keeping downward pressure in place into the end of the quarter. Furthermore, the histogram has turned negative, adding to our caution. While the market held support, it did so with weakening momentum, which is the definition of an undecided tape.

From our vantage point, the breadth story is the bigger worry. The equal-weight S&P fell almost three times as hard as the cap-weighted index this past week. Most notably, it was small caps that led the whole thing lower, with volume telling the same story. Of course, the spike in crude oil didn’t help and forced the heaviest selling in the rate-sensitive names, rather than the index leaders. As noted, breadth is the key to a sustainable bull market rally. The current breadth is a warning, but not yet a sell signal.

This coming week keeps our focus on risk management. From that standpoint, we continue to recommend trimming the most extended winners back toward model weight into any push toward the old highs, rather than chasing them. The 50-DMA near 7,600 is the support line that decides our next moves. If we hold it, and the uptrend off the spring lows stays intact, we can keep exposures near normal levels. However, if we lose that support on a closing basis, the next real floor sits much lower at the 200-DMA near 7,158. We suggest keeping some dry powder heading into the Fed rate decision and next Friday’s option expiration.

Heading into the end of the month and the quarter, there is one level that dictates portfolio strategy into October. A weekly close back above 7,796, the August record, says the buyers have reclaimed control. A close below 7,600 signals that the 50-DMA has failed and that the market wants deeper support. Everything in between is noise. And next week brings two catalysts big enough to force the break. Trade the level, not the narrative.

🔑 Key Catalysts Next Week

As mentioned throughout the commentary so far, there are two key events next week, and both are large enough to set the tone for the quarter. More importantly, they land 48 hours apart.

The first is the Fed. The FOMC meets Tuesday and Wednesday. The decision, a fresh set of projections, and Warsh’s press conference all hit on Wednesday afternoon. The market still leans toward a rate hike. However, as noted above, I think this week’s data made the call harder, not easier. A central bank does not like hiking into a 3.4% headline inflation print that was primarily a function of a temporary crude spike, so the real story on Wednesday may be who dissented, rather than the lack of a rate hike.

The second catalyst is purely mechanical. Next Friday brings the options and futures expiration, known as “quad-witching,” which occurs four times a year.  Notably, this one is set up to be a record in size, which is unsurprising given the surge in options trading in the markets over the last couple of years. However, historically, expirations this large can pin price to the big strikes. Then they release it hard once they clear. Layer that on a Fed decision 48 hours earlier, and the week has a real setup for an outsized move.

The economic calendar around the Fed is full. Retail sales, industrial production, housing starts, the regional Fed surveys, and weekly jobless claims all print across the week. Retail sales carry the most weight. Consumer resilience is the last leg holding the soft-landing story together. A soft print would land badly, coming the morning after the Fed. There are no Fed speakers on the slate. The pre-meeting blackout window sees to that.

Earnings are thin in the gap between quarters, which gives macroeconomic data much greater weight. FedEx is the marquee large-cap report, worth a look as a read on shipping demand and the industrial economy on Friday.

The asymmetric risk is a hawkish surprise from the Fed. Whether the market is priced for a hike remains to be seen. However, if Warsh delivers a hike, the rate-sensitive trade may have already priced it in, along with the bond market. In other words, a rate hike might turn out to be a relief for bond traders after all.

What Should Investors Do Now

So, what does all this mean for your portfolio heading into next week? Mostly, nothing. However, over the longer-term time frame (next few quarters to a couple of years), this is where the two halves of the argument stop fighting and start cooperating. Is “this time different?” Most likely not.

First, the near-term evidence remains bullish. Both momentum and washed-out positioning suggest that investors remain invested for now. However, the longer-term evidence, including price action, stretched valuations, and above-trend earnings, clearly suggests that stronger risk management protocols should be implemented.

The reality is that you can hold both views without contradiction, and from our view, you should.

It isn’t a difficult plan to implement; it just requires a willingness to potentially give up some gains if that market moves higher near term, which is likely. Ride the trend, harvest the winners back to weight, spread into the parts of the market that are cheaper and finally growing, keep real ballast in bonds and cash, and write down your sell discipline today while your head is clear, rather than in the middle of the reset.

Will that keep you from giving back some of the last leg of the move? Yes. Will it keep you from riding a ninety-year breakout all the way back into the channel it came from? Also yes. I’ll take that trade.

The trend is your friend, right up until the bend at the very end. Position for the friend. Prepare for the bend.

Chinese President Xi Jinping used today’s 18th BRICS Summit to push for a greater diplomatic role in Gulf affairs. The move appears to be transforming the bloc’s economic weight into geopolitical influence, really positioning it as a counterweight to US foreign policy.

Beijing’s leverage also rests on its control over rare-earth and other critical-material supply chains, as it maintains a “quasi-monopolistic” grip on the industry that will persist through the end of the decade.

Keeping that leverage in mind, Japanese news outlet Kyodo News reported that Beijing threatened earlier today to cancel the summit with President Trump in Washington if the US approves new arms sales to Taiwan.

Kyodo stated:

China has told the United States that it intends to cancel a planned meeting between their leaders later this month if Washington approves any new arms sales to Taiwan by then, multiple sources familiar with bilateral ties said Saturday.

U.S. President Donald Trump, apparently eager to showcase some diplomatic achievements ahead of November’s midterm congressional elections, places great importance on holding the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

While preparing for Xi’s upcoming trip, China has restated its position that the Taiwan issue is a “red line” in bilateral relations, sources said.

The report comes ahead of Xi’s planned summit with Trump at the White House on September 24. The threat is another obstacle for the administration as it seeks to maintain an already fragile diplomatic and trade truce amid worsening relations over the Gulf conflict.

Polymarket traders appear unfazed by the Kyodo report, with Xi still leading the “Who will Trump meet with in September?” market at 95% and odds showing little reaction to the reported threat.

Taiwan arms sales have already emerged as a critical focal point for both superpowers. After meeting Xi in May, Trump declined to commit to approving another weapons package, while Beijing warned that mishandling Taiwan could spark a conflict.

A late-August report cited by Taiwan’s main English-language daily newspaper, the Taipei Times, said that China had deployed a record 244 coast guard, research, and other government vessels around the island amid mounting fears of a blockade next year.

“Might be the first in history to see a power play coming from China when it comes to this. Not because they want, but because they can. One of the main reasons would be because of the control they have over critical minerals US has to pick which front to focus on- China or Iran,” Teo Sinamin, who runs a Substack focused on rare earths, wrote on X.

Might be the first in history to see power play coming from China when it comes to this.

Not because they want,but because they can.

One of the main reasons would be because of the control they have over critical minerals

US has to pick which front to focus on- China or Iran https://t.co/VIyOSuHaOp

— Teo (@Teo_Sinamin) September 12, 2026

Sinamin continued …

Greenest Monday ever for critical minerals https://t.co/tgxwyZj1jo

— Teo (@Teo_Sinamin) September 12, 2026

A further deterioration in US-China relations could trigger tighter export licensing or renewed restrictions on critical materials, intensifying pressure on Western industrial and defense supply chains. This issue resurfaced earlier this month when Reuters reported that some Chinese rare-earth suppliers refused shipments to US customers for fear of repercussions from Beijing.

The ongoing disruption supports the bullish investment case for reducing dependence on China, with junior miners and established producers offering alternative supplies. That is certainly the talk among private equity and hedge funds to date. Further escalation could push the decoupling theme to the forefront across the investing world, as these critical-material supply chains are the building blocks for AI data center buildouts, electrification upgrades, reindustrialization, and the upcoming rearmament cycle.

The strongest beneficiaries would likely be companies that can deliver ex-China supplies at scale in time to ease Western shortages as demand soars for the reasons mentioned above.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

Twenty-five years after Islamist hijackers murdered 2,977 people on American soil, a young man in Lower Manhattan looked at 2,977 memorial drones drawing the towers in the night sky and asked why anyone would build a “fake” building.

He called the Tribute in Light the “Batman signal.”

This is what happens when media and universities treat the Islamist nature of the attack as a political embarrassment instead of a fact.

?? Young American outraged by a 9/11 memorial action

2,977 drones, one for each victim, went up at once to draw a full-size silhouette full-size silhouette in the sky over Lower Manhattan.

The man did not understand what was going on and sharply commented: “We have enough… pic.twitter.com/6gkGbIbpRt

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) September 11, 2026

“We have enough buildings, bro. Why are they making a fake one?” The guy filming the video states.

Critics assert that education about the September 11 2001 attacks has been avoided due to the Islamist nature of the terror attack, leaving large parts of Gen Z with almost no knowledge of what happened that fateful morning.

Gen Z’s indifference to Sept. 11 is inexcusable | RESTORING AMERICA by @SouthernKeeks https://t.co/vscKWQag7k

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) September 11, 2026

Washington Examiner columnist Kimberly Ross called the indifference inexcusable. Younger Americans cannot be blamed for being born after 2001, she wrote, but they can be charged with treating the day as a bother.

“If you have the immense privilege of calling yourself an American, you have a duty to understand both the scope of loss and how it forced a titanic shift in our national perspective,” she writes, noting that the dead, the jumpers, Flight 93, Todd Beamer’s “let’s roll” cannot be treated as optional educational content.

The vacuum is not accidental. Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia told teachers not to “associate the 9/11 attacks with Islam or Muslims” and not to “center the extremists.”

Roughly half of that district’s commemorative guide is devoted to “safe spaces” for Muslim students.

Penn GSE’s “Teaching Beyond 9/11” curriculum, pushed into New York City schools and several state education departments, gives the attacks themselves a single paragraph, says the United States merely “accused” Osama bin Laden, and then piles on units about Islamophobia, right-wing extremism, and “avenues for solidarity.”

Only a handful of states mandate real instruction. Texas just approved language tying “radical Islam” to the attacks; Democrats on the board called it an outrage.

One Navy veteran put the motive in the open:

What should be taught in every single American school is intentionally hidden and lied about by our own education system. They don’t want them to know Muslims were responsible for thousands killed that day and years after by war. That’s why people are stupidly voting for them,…

— megourd1967 (@ProudUSNvet67) September 11, 2026

Others expressed consternation about the lack of knowledge among Gen Z:

If they don’t even know history from 25 years ago, what do they know?

— Creature of Habit2 (@CreatureHabit2) September 11, 2026

Generation Z is a disaster. They are completely out of touch and stupid. They respect nothing and don’t study their own history.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
George Santayana.

— Roger Pellegrini (@Pellegrini_RG) September 11, 2026

Media and universities are to blame, yes. But where TF are the parents on this? If my kids had no idea 9/11 even happened, I have failed. It’s kind of a big deal..

— TheArmedGardener (@Cheeky1iam) September 11, 2026

While that ignorance played out over Manhattan, New York’s first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, stood at Ground Zero after families and first responders spent weeks begging him to stay away.

Giovanni Galante, whose wife Grace was killed in the North Tower, organized a petition that passed 100,000 signatures. “We don’t believe in what he believes in, and we really want us to be left alone,” Galante said. “This 25th anniversary is for victims and survivors… not have a circus around us.”

Charles Wolf, who lost his wife, said: “This mayor is not serving us. He’s serving himself.” Monica Iken asked him to “respect us from 7 to 11 and let us have our mourning.” Cheri Sparacio, whose husband Tom died on the 84th floor of the South Tower, pointed to Mamdani’s chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, who previously represented a convicted al-Qaeda operative.

City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino demanded he “not show his face at that sacred ground.” The Port Authority Retired Police Association, which lost 37 officers that morning, told him the day was “not a political occasion, a photo opportunity, or a platform.”

He came anyway. Cameras then caught him laughing with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez while family members read the names of the dead.

They’re Showing You EXACTLY Who They Are…

Mourner Walter Matuza, whose father was killed and who helped push the petition, said: “He showed up anyway. It does bother us.” Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani had already said Mamdani’s presence “offends” him and that the mayor “stands in direct support of the movement that killed their children.”

Andy Ngo documented another face of the same contempt a few blocks and a few hours from the names: a trans ‘activist’ who regularly dances at Pride events ripping pages from a Bible at a 9/11 “direct action.”

NYC (Sept. 11) — A trans activist who regularly dances at Pride events rips out pages of the Bible at a 9/11 direct action. pic.twitter.com/6qtsAyaIzO

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) September 11, 2026

Sick. Just sick.

Meanwhile, 9/11 families have once again demanded release of files that the deep state has spent a quarter-century ducking. Terry Strada, after reading her husband Tom’s name, asked: “How can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?”

She said families had “proved that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fomented a rancid culture of anti-American terrorism” and sent agents to support the hijackers. “For 25 years, administration after administration… chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families.” She told Vice President JD Vance: “Stand with the families. Stand with the survivors. Stand with Americans.”

The nephew of Lisa Marie Terry said: “For 25 years, the Deep State has hidden the truth about what happened 25 years ago. President Trump, you’re our last hope. Release the unredacted files that implicate Saudi Arabia, while what’s left of the victims’ families are still alive to see it.”

9/11 Family Members Demand Trump Admin Release Docs ‘Deep State Has Hidden’

A generation that cannot identify a silhouette of the towers has no grounding in modern American society. A school system that treats “Islamophobia” as the real lesson of 9/11 will not produce one.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

Sixty-six per cent of the slots are ringfenced for staff who are ethnic minority, disabled, or from a lower socio-economic background. Everyone else – including the white working-class kids the same government claims to champion – can take whatever is left. They’ve essentially built a public-sector caste system.

The Cabinet Office’s defence is the same tired formula used across the British state. The scheme, it says, complies with the “positive action” provisions of the Equality Act. In plain English: race, disability status and class background are now official sorting criteria for who gets accelerated towards the top of the machine that writes the country’s laws.

Exclusive: The Civil Service is reserving two-thirds of places on a taxpayer-funded talent programme for “diverse candidates”.

A leaked document reveals 66% of places are ringfenced for ethnic minority, disabled and lower socioeconomic background staff.

The Cabinet Office says…

— Steven Edginton (@StevenEdginton) September 8, 2026

Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf put the objection in one line: “Jobs and opportunities should be awarded on merit, not handed out according to someone’s ethnicity.”

“Positive action” is the legal fig leaf. Positive discrimination is illegal in Britain. Positive action is the workaround: employers may favour a candidate from an under-represented group if they are “as qualified” as the other person. In practice, the ringfence comes first. Two-thirds of the places are already spoken for before a single application is scored on competence.

The Civil Service already runs dedicated fast-tracks for favoured identities. META – the Minority Ethnic Talent Association – sits on top of the Future Leaders Scheme. DELTA does the same for disabled staff. Mentoring, mock interviews, senior sponsorship and extra visibility are reserved for those groups. The leaked 66 per cent figure is simply that architecture made explicit: most of the taxpayer-funded pipeline is not open competition. It is a reserved lane.

Official numbers make the “under-representation” story look thinner by the year. Civil Service Statistics 2026 put ethnic minority representation at a record 19.2 per cent, against 19.6 per cent of the economically active working-age population.

Declared disability among civil servants is now 18.4 per cent – above the national working-age average. The gap that remains is concentrated at the Senior Civil Service, where ethnic minority staff sit at 10.6 per cent. The official answer is not to test harder for the best people. It is to fence off two-thirds of the development scheme and call it justice.

This is not an isolated HR experiment. Britain’s domestic intelligence service has already told white students, including poor ones, not to bother applying.

For the 2026/27 academic year, MI5’s Summer Intelligence Internship is confined to people “from a Black, Asian, mixed heritage or ethnic minority background and from a socially or economically disadvantaged background.”

The agency’s own careers page states: “We’re confining the applications for this internship to those within this demographic due to a current underrepresentation in our workforce.” White British applicants – even those from the most deprived postcodes – cannot submit a form. A narrow “White other” box exists for Romany Gypsy, Scottish Travellers or Irish Travellers. Ordinary white Britons are out.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp called it “flagrant racism from MI5 & GCHQ.” He wrote: “White applicants for summer 2027 internships – including from disadvantaged backgrounds – can’t apply. The scheme must be scrapped.” And: “Applications should be merit-based and colour blind. Working class white boys are among the most disadvantaged – yet are ignored.”

Security minister Dan Jarvis has defended the internships as “a lawful measure (as set out in the Equality Act 2010) used to encourage people from under-represented demographics to consider national security careers.” The same statute, the same incantation. The people who will one day hold files on the rest of the country are being pre-sorted by ethnicity before they sit a single test.

The National Audit Office ran the same play. Its six-week paid public-sector accounting internship in Newcastle accepted only applicants who were female, of black heritage, or from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Middle-class white men were barred. Yusuf called that “blatant discrimination.”

The same pattern reached frontline policing in April 2025. West Yorkshire Police, one of the largest forces in the country, told white British candidates to wait while “under-represented groups” were waved through the door.

The force’s recruitment page stated: “We are currently accepting applications for the two police constable entry programmes (uniform and detective) from people from our under-represented groups… If you are not from one of these groups, please keep checking this page for future recruitment opportunities.”

A whistleblower report to senior officers, seen by The Telegraph, said the effect was blunt: “the pipeline for anyone white British is strangled, whilst anyone not white British is ushered through.” Over a 15-month stretch, ethnic minority candidates were given 446 days to apply. White British applicants were given 99. In one round they had 48 hours.

West Yorkshire denied it was a ban. It said early applications from minorities were “positive action” and that those files were held until the scheme opened to everyone. The force still employs a small army of DEI officers. Chief Constable John Robins has argued that the law itself should be changed to permit open positive discrimination.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called the episode “social engineering.” She said she believes in “meritocracy, not race-based quotas,” and warned that such policies risk “the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes that ethnic minorities cannot succeed unless a well-meaning Leftie is holding the door open.” Police, she added, exist “to prevent crime and catch criminals, not social engineering.”

Once the recruitment gate is racialised, the training follows. Thames Valley Police put officers through “equity training” covering “white privilege,” “micro-aggressions” and the difference between being “non-racist versus anti-racist.”

The course landed a month after an employment tribunal found the same force had positively discriminated against white officers by handing an unadvertised inspector post to an Asian sergeant.

An independent review ordered by the police and crime commissioner noted that white privilege “can often be seen as demonising white people and therefore building barriers to the learning.” The training went ahead anyway.

Police Scotland’s anti-racism package lists the same canon: white privilege, white fragility, micro-aggressions, allyship. The National Police Chiefs’ Council Race Action Plan treats “unconscious bias” as a fact about everyone and proceeds from the premise that many people still believe policing is institutionally racist.

Officers are taught to see their own skin as a problem before they are taught to see a suspect. That is not operational training. It is political catechism, paid for by the public those officers are supposed to protect.

The legal profession also has its own reserved lane. The Bar Council partnered with the 10,000 Interns Foundation on a paid six-week scheme that excluded white applicants. Sophie Corcoran, a commentator who had been exploring a legal career, applied and was shut out.

She said she was “shocked to discover that the scheme is restricted to applicants of a particular racial background.” She has since issued proceedings. “This case is not simply about my own experience,” she said. “I am pursuing it because I believe that no person in Britain should be denied opportunities because of the colour of their skin. I believe strongly that equality before the law must apply to everyone.”

The Bar Council’s answer is, again, the Equality Act. It has called the scheme “lawful positive action under sections 158 and 159 of the Equality Act based on evidence of under-representation in relation to access to the profession,” filed a defence, and said it will “vigorously contest” the claim. The 2026 intake went ahead.

Rupert Lowe, then an independent MP, had already described the programme as “anti-white racism.”

He further urged, “What message does this send to a generation of talented, hard-working young people who happen to be white – that their ambitions are less worthy? That they must be excluded to balance some imagined historical scale?”

The body that speaks for barristers is defending a racial filter on entry to the profession that exists to interpret the law equally.

The same logic has already eaten the Treasury. In 2020 the department that runs the public finances quietly scrapped the numerical reasoning test on its policy adviser graduate scheme.

Internal papers obtained by The Spectator explained why. “The Numerical Reasoning Test (NRT) was removed due to evidence of the test having adverse impact on candidate diversity.”

Board minutes were more direct: “We want more diverse ethnicity at assessment centre.” Two tests were treated as “an additional ‘hurdle'” and “another opportunity for candidates to be sifted out of the process.”

The verbal reasoning test later went the same way. In its place came a “Civil Service Strengths” questionnaire, including items such as “I find it frustrating when others don’t understand my ideas.” Dr Zubir Ahmed’s verdict on the numeracy decision was short: “I’m sorry, but this is insane and helps no one.”

A state that deletes the maths test from the Treasury application so that the ethnicity numbers look better is a state that has stopped caring whether the people who will spend your money can count.

Every one of these schemes points back to the same statute. The Equality Act 2010, passed by Labour and left standing by the Conservatives, created the “positive action” gateway.

Ministers, permanent secretaries and police chiefs now treat that gateway as a mandate. The Civil Service Code itself tells officials they must support “equality and diversity.” Once that is written into the operating system, every talent board, internship and constable intake becomes an exercise in demographic engineering.

Labour has pushed the same logic from the other direction. In 2025 Pat McFadden announced that the main Civil Service undergraduate internship would be restricted to students from “lower socio-economic backgrounds,” judged by what their parents did when they were 14.

“We need to get more working class young people into the civil service so it harnesses the broadest range of talent and truly reflects the country,” he said. Class ringfences and race ringfences now sit side by side. The one group that is never the intended beneficiary is the ordinary white applicant who is neither poor enough nor minority enough to clear the new hurdles.

Across the Atlantic, the second Trump administration has spent two years ripping DEI out of the federal government and the universities. Whitehall has spent those same years thickening the paperwork. America First meant colour-blind hiring. Britain First, in the hands of the Blob, has meant the opposite.

Edginton’s leak does not reveal a rogue HR officer. It reveals the settled doctrine of the British governing class. A taxpayer-funded talent programme with 66 per cent of places reserved is not “inclusion.” It is a quota with better branding.

MI5 internships that refuse white applications, police portals that tell white Britons to check back later, classrooms that instruct officers in their privilege, and a Bar scheme that locks white graduates out of paid chambers experience are not separate scandals. They are one policy, applied wherever the state still controls the gate.

A country that sorts its future mandarins, spies, constables and barristers by ancestry should stop calling itself a meritocracy. It should at least have the honesty to admit what the leaked paper already says: two-thirds of the ladder is reserved, and the people who built the state are no longer first in line to run it.

At the 18th BRICS Summit earlier today, held at the Bharat Mandapam convention center in New Delhi, India, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged member nations to help end the war in the Middle East, positioning the bloc as a force for global stability.

Speaking Saturday at the BRICS summit, Xi said members should stand on the “right side of history” and take a leading role in promoting peace, according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.

President Xi Jinping attended Session I of the 18th BRICS Summit and delivered an important statement.

President Xi stressed that BRICS must stand firmly on the right side of history and strive to be a pioneer of our times.

1️⃣ BRICS should be a pioneer in advancing… pic.twitter.com/4ZGd1zKuqi

— Mao Ning 毛宁 (@SpoxCHN_MaoNing) September 12, 2026

Xi said the conflict in the Gulf region undermined the international community’s shared interests and pledged Beijing’s cooperation in ending hostilities. Those shared interests include importing cheap Iranian crude and other products to Asia. 

“BRICS countries should firmly stand on the right side of history,” Xi said.

Xi, Putin and Modi are meeting in at the BRICS summit in India today pic.twitter.com/j4etgsYqAd

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) September 12, 2026

Xi’s comments show that Beijing is turning BRICS’s economic weight into geopolitical influence and positioning the bloc as a diplomatic power broker. However, the remarks stopped just short of a concrete ceasefire plan.

The Trump administration, including the president himself, has framed BRICS as “anti-American” and threatened steep tariffs over efforts to challenge the dollar.

Trump has made several comments about BRICS, including threatening tariffs against member nations if the bloc creates a rival currency. He has also threatened additional tariffs on countries aligning with BRICS’ “Anti-American policies.”

Authored by Rachel Roberts via The Epoch Times,

Female reproductive organ development could be impacted by a mother taking Tylenol – also known as acetaminophen or paracetamol – during pregnancy, according to researchers in Denmark.

On average, infant girls exposed to the pain relief drug in the womb had smaller ovaries; fewer ovarian follicles, which are the structures that contain immature eggs; smaller wombs; and lower levels of reproductive hormones, according to the findings of the study published Wednesday in Human Reproduction Open.

Long-term follow-up will be required to determine whether the differences observed in infants have implications for fertility later in life and a woman’s age at menopause, study leader Margit Bistrup Fischer of Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen said in a statement accompanying the study.

Animal studies have previously suggested that fetal exposure to Tylenol, the most commonly used drug in pregnancy, might affect ovarian egg reserve and later reproductive function, but this is the first time that research has reported similar findings in humans.

Women ‘Should Not Be Alarmed’

Women who have used Tylenol, the brand name for the generic drug acetaminophen, widely known as paracetamol outside of North America, during pregnancy should not be alarmed, Fischer said.

“Animal studies have demonstrated that impaired formation of ovarian follicles can lead to reduced fertility and earlier reproductive aging. Whether the differences observed in our study have implications for fertility and age at menopause in humans remains unknown and will require long-term follow-up of the girls in our cohort.

“Women who have used paracetamol during pregnancy should not be alarmed by our findings. Our study examined associations at the population level and cannot predict outcomes for any individual woman or child,” she said.

The researchers studied 302 3-month-old girls whose mothers’ use of Tylenol had been tracked during pregnancy. Of these babies, 92 were first exposed to the drug in the womb before 17 weeks of pregnancy, 67 were exposed after 17 weeks, and 143 were born to mothers who had not used the drug while pregnant.

The women all took relatively low amounts, with none exceeding the recommended daily maximum dose of 4,000 milligrams. Most took it to help with headaches or musculoskeletal pain.

A girl’s ovarian reserves are established while she is a developing baby in the womb, although other factors may determine the age she goes through puberty and menopause.

The 3-month-old girls in the study who were exposed to Tylenol in utero had ovaries that were 40 percent smaller, wombs that were on average 13 percent smaller, and 23 percent fewer ovarian follicles, the researchers found.

Babies exposed early in pregnancy – before 17 weeks – also had lower levels of Anti-Müllerian hormone, an indicator of the number and quality of eggs in the ovaries.

Smaller Wombs and Ovaries

The researchers also followed a separate group of 1,210 girls from infancy to adolescence whose mothers had reported Tylenol use during pregnancy. Fetal exposure in this group was associated with smaller uteruses at puberty and smaller ovaries during adolescence.

The study cannot predict outcomes for any individual female, Fischer said, explaining that many women who used Tylenol during pregnancy had daughters whose ovarian measurements were similar to those of daughters born to women who did not use the drug.

Current guidelines from health authorities recommend Tylenol as safe for treating pain and fever during pregnancy. Untreated high fever or severe pain can themselves pose risks to both mother and baby, Fischer said.

Dr. Christian De Geyter, a reproductive medicine specialist at the University Hospital of Basel, Switzerland, said in an accompanying commentary that the findings of the study fit well with data from animal research, and that their importance “cannot be stressed enough.”

Follow-up of girls in the study should extend into menopause, he said, adding that recommendations on the drug’s use during pregnancy should be reconsidered.

Franziska Denk, professor of neuroscience at King’s College London, said the study was “good quality research,” although he thought the sample size was too small for the 13 different variables being examined.

“Right now, I think it is too early to recommend a change in behavior – as correctly indicated by the authors in the press release,” he said.

‘Several Notable Weaknesses’

Stephen Burgess, professor of biostatistics at the University of Cambridge, said the study had “several notable weaknesses.”

“Mothers who took paracetamol during pregnancy are likely to differ substantially from those that did not – this is known as confounding. Confounding makes it difficult to know whether differences between outcomes are attributable to paracetamol itself or to other characteristics of the mothers or their pregnancies,” he said.

He said that it could not be determined that the drug was the cause of the differences found by the researchers.

“It may be that these findings are driven by infection or fever – women take paracetamol due to mild sickness, and this sickness is the cause of differences in early-life ovarian volume. It may be that impaired fetal development and its causes are what lead to increased paracetamol usage, not that increased paracetamol usage leads to impaired fetal development.”

Burgess added that even if there were negative consequences of taking paracetamol during pregnancy, there were “likely future negative consequences attributable to taking away one of the only remaining available and widely tolerated medications from pregnant women.”

US Officials Linked Drug to Autism

President Donald Trump’s administration has said that evidence suggests the use of Tylenol during pregnancy could be linked to autism, although the claim was dismissed by major health organizations.

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. and Trump spoke about the use of Tylenol during pregnancy in September 2025, with the government subsequently advocating caution over prenatal exposure. The department’s current fact sheet says exposure to the drug during pregnancy is an unresolved area of concern, while acknowledging that causality has not been established.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to monitor and evaluate the drug’s use in pregnancy, but states that it has not found clear evidence that Tylenol’s use at recommended safe levels causes adverse pregnancy, birth, neurobehavioral, or developmental outcomes.

The FDA and HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Danish study.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that the clinical significance of the study’s findings remain “uncertain or unknown,” and that current guidelines for women should not change because of it.

“The oldest participants evaluated were adolescents, and the study cannot determine whether the observed differences are associated with future reproductive outcomes such as fertility, ovulatory function, reproductive lifespan, or other measures of reproductive health,” it said, adding that the observational study had various limitations.

“These findings should be viewed as a potential area for further investigation and do not indicate that current clinical recommendations should change. Consistent with ACOG’s existing guidance, acetaminophen remains one of the only safe medications that can be used during pregnancy when indicated, and patients should consult their obstetric care professional before making any changes to medication use.”

Ongoing Lawsuit

The Danish findings come as Tylenol manufacturers face an ongoing lawsuit in the United States over alleged risks associated with prenatal exposure.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued Kenvue, which now owns the Tylenol brand after Johnson & Johnson spun off its consumer health business into a new company in 2023. The suit alleged that the company engaged in deceptive advertising by failing to disclose evidence concerning a possible link between prenatal Tylenol exposure and autism.

While a judge dismissed most of the claims, one consumer-protection claim against Kenvue Brands LLC has been allowed to proceed, with the company’s attempt to have it dismissed rejected in February.

In an emailed statement to Reuters, Kenvue advised pregnant or breastfeeding women to check with a health professional before using acetaminophen, which the company says is the most studied and safest pain reliever during pregnancy.

It noted that the study has methodology limitations and does not support a causal relationship between the drug and postnatal reproductive development.

Kenvue shares fell more than 3 percent Wednesday following the study’s publication.

Among an array of shifting official goals of the Iran war offered by the US administration, there’s one which has remained consistent: President Trump and White House officials have time and again proclaimed that Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal is mostly obliterated.

Yet, this very week – as well as the past several weeks – Iran has been intermittently responding to US provocations by unleashing large ballistic missile salvos on some of the Gulf states, but especially Jordan. Here’s the NY Times commenting on the latest attack on US bases in Jordan just yesterday:

The Jordanian military said that it had intercepted 18 of the 20 missiles and that two had fallen in unpopulated areas. But the two U.S. officials acknowledged that the base in Azraq, Jordan, was hit.

How then are the Iranians sustaining such large repeat strike waves after US-Israeli attacks supposedly destroyed much of their missile program?

For a very brief trip down memory lane spanning various phases of the six-month long conflict…

*  *  *

March 9, 2026. President Trump very early in the Operation Epic Fury campaign told Fox News:

“We have sunk all Iranian ships and destroyed most of its missile launch platforms, with only 20% remaining.”  

April 1, 2026. Roughly a month into the conflict, Trump delivered a formal address outlining the scope of the destruction, claiming the following:

“That means eliminating Iran’s navy, which is now absolutely destroyed, hurting their air force and their missile program at levels never seen before, and annihilating their defense industrial base. We’ve done all of it; their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their missiles are just about used up or beaten.”  

June 5, 2026. Trump in NBC News Meet the Press interview, actually reiterated what seemed like very specific figures:

“Most of the missile manufacturing areas have been knocked out… I would say, percentage-wise, maybe 21, 22 per cent of their missiles. It’s a lot of missiles, but it’s not what it was when we first attacked.”

*  *  *

Now, on Thursday, enter The Wall Street Journal with a new report saying the Islamic Republic has again ramped-up its damaged defense sector, producing ballistic missiles once again:

Iran has resumed its production of ballistic missiles using stockpiled components and working in underground facilities, officials from the U.S. and Middle East familiar with the matter said, eroding what the U.S. and Israel have touted as a major achievement of the war. 

Despite heavy attacks on its missile sites and industrial facilities during the initial phase of the war, Iran has been busy assembling liquid-propellant missiles, which have to be fueled just before launch, as well as solid-propellant missiles, which can be stored ready to fire, some of the officials said.

Iranian officials have all along claimed that they kept up weapons production even under the height of US bombing raids.

Earlier this week, Iranian Brigadier General Alireza Elhami, who serves as the commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Joint Air Defense Headquarters, assessed the following as cited in PressTV: “The equipment produced [inside Iran] passed a successful test during that conflict, and now they are being rapidly mass-produced to be deployed across the entire expanse of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Israel FINALLY Releases 12-Day War Footage After Censorship LIFTED

It shows TWO Iranian Missiles making DIRECT HITS on the Haifa Oil Refinery

This was BEFORE the alleged Interceptor shortage too pic.twitter.com/iSyQlKJjwT

— Ryan Rozbiani (@RyanRozbiani) September 8, 2026

The new WSJ report is consistent with the Iranian military official’s words: “Intelligence points to activity at several underground sites, including the Khojir missile facility in southeastern Iran, those officials said. Iran is also attempting to build new underground assembly points to avoid getting struck again, they said.”

“So far, Iran is mainly assembling the new missiles from existing components in more limited quantities than before the war, the U.S. and regional officials said,” the report continues. “The U.S. and Israel damaged a number of industrial facilities needed to produce missile components and missiles themselves, and the naval blockade has complicated imports of parts and ingredients for solid fuel.”

Iran sees itself in a situation of an existential fight for its survival as a people and a nation, so is pulling out all the stops and seeking to demonstrate resiliency, charging full steam ahead. ‘Victory’ for Tehran is survival, and it seems to only now be sinking in for Washington just how hard it will be to remove the country’s rulers and institutions.

Via Remix News,

A Yemeni asylum seeker living in the Netherlands cannot rely on family reunification rules to bring over children from two additional marriages that Dutch law does not recognize, ruled the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The ECHR dismissed the migrant’s complaint on Tuesday, holding that Council of Europe states are not required to treat polygamous family arrangements as they would a monogamous household.

The man, 56, has three wives and 13 children from those unions. After arriving in the Netherlands in 2018 and receiving asylum, he was allowed to bring one wife and their eight children.

Dutch authorities refused entry to the five children born of his other two marriages, citing that “polygamy is prohibited in the Netherlands.”

He lost his challenges in the Dutch courts and then turned to Strasbourg, according to French newspaper Le Figaro. He argued the case was not about importing polygamy, because he was not seeking to bring the other two wives, only the remaining children. The court rejected the argument that the refusal violated his right to respect for family life.

If a European state “establishes an immigration policy that takes family ties into account,” it “cannot be obliged to recognize polygamous marriages that conflict with its own legal system,” the judges in Strasbourg ruled.

🇩🇪A tale of two Germanys🇩🇪

🔴The first Germany represents illiterate Syrian migrant Ahmad A. and his 2 wives and 6 children. The entire family received free housing and welfare thanks to German taxpayers.

“I would to thank Mommy Merkel very, very, very much,” he told Spiegel… pic.twitter.com/dywvPx6m9K

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) April 28, 2026

The court also noted that he could have divorced the two other wives, as Dutch authorities had proposed, but declined to do so.

Notably, the second wife is already in the Netherlands with her children after she received asylum in June 2025. However, the fact that she entered the Netherlands did not change the ruling, the ECHR stated.

“The fact that polygamy is prohibited in all member states of the Council of Europe shows that there is a strong European consensus on this issue,” the judges noted. Under those circumstances, “Member States have considerable discretion as to whether or not to grant fathers and children born of polygamy the right to family reunification.”

🇫🇷🚨In France, an Ivorian polygamist has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for torture, rape, and for imposing a hard-line Islamic regime on his 4 wives and 29 children.

The 45-year-old Ivorian migrant, held in pretrial detention since 2022, was said to have stripped the home… pic.twitter.com/1NVsbWmJcl

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) December 4, 2025

The ECHR, based in Strasbourg, oversees compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights by the member states of the Council of Europe.

Read more here…

Authored by Patrick Pillow via The Libertarian Institute,

In 1990, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provided “full funding” for one Anwar Nasser Abdulla al-Awlaki for studies in civil engineering at Colorado State University.

There was only one problem: the USAID document listed his birthplace as Sana’a, Yemen. Awlaki was actually born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, an inaccuracy which federal security agent Ray Fournier and The New York Times describe as being done in an attempt to qualify for scholarship money.

Awlaki returned to the United States on October 23, 2000, just two weeks after the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen. This sequencing is worth mentioning, but at this time the FBI did not establish any connection between Awlaki and the attack.

Just months before September 11, Awlaki moved to Virginia and became an imam at the Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque in Falls Church. After the events of 9/11, on September 15, he was questioned by authorities and claimed he flew into Washington DC’s National Airport at 9 AM – less than an hour before the Pentagon was hit.

Significantly during interrogations, Awlaki would not show his passport and left the interview at one point to take an “urgent” phone call. When asked about his feelings about jihad, he would go on to state “I would like not to comment on that.”

Years later, in 2003, Awlaki himself would initiate a conversation with the FBI, stating he was “astonished by some of the talk circulating in the media.” This included allegations of him serving as a “spiritual advisor” to the hijackers, to which Awlaki stated he would like to “clarify any misunderstandings.”

As one FBI agent asked upon receiving correspondence from Awlaki, “Holy crap – isn’t this your guy?”

While they discussed a potential meeting in London, the meet up never happened as Awlaki stopped replying. Still, the story didn’t end there.

In 2004, the 9/11 Commission Report was released in which Awlaki’s relationship with the hijackers was detailed. In the report, it discusses hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdar who were reported to have “developed a close relationship” with Awlaki.

Years later, on July 16, 2010, Awlaki was revealed by the U.S. Treasury as a key leader for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and described as being increasingly dangerous with an “operational role” in the group.

This included assistance to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, known by some as the “underpants bomber,” who attempted to detonate a device in mid-air during a flight on Christmas 2009. Awlaki also exchanged messages with Nidal Hasan before he killed thirteen people at Fort Hood in 2009. In 2010, Faisal Shahzad – who attempted to use a car bomb in Times Square – stated he was a “fan and follower” of Awlaki.

Awlaki was killed a year later in Yemen by a drone strike. Weeks later, his 16-year old son was also killed by a drone strike which raised multiple legal and ethical questions, as he was a U.S. citizen and killed in a country the United States was not formally at war with. His daughter was also killed in a raid over five years later.

As families of 9/11 victims sued the Saudi Arabian government, more potential reveals were provided in 2015. This included a witness during a civil lawsuit who stated they saw Hazmi and Mihdhar at a second-floor guest room at Awlaki’s San Diego mosque and also that he had “closed-door meetings in San Diego with al-Mihdhar, al-Hazmi, and another individual, whom al-Bayoumi had asked to help the hijackers.”

An April 4, 2016, FBI “Encore” Investigation Update, Review and Analysis discussed how Awlaki had phone contact with Ziyad Khaleel – an alleged equipment procurer for Osama Bin-Laden. It was this connection that led the FBI to open an investigation into Awlaki in the first place in 1999.

A part of Operation Encore released in 2021, the Joe Biden administration revealed that Saudi diplomat Fahad al-Thumairy had directed an associate to look after “two very significant people,” who were later identified as Hazmi and Mihdhar.

Later reveals also show Omar al-Bayoumi – who supported both Hazmi and Mihdhar – worked as an agent of Saudi intelligence. Awlaki was later revealed to have phone calls with Bayoumi just days after Bayoumi was setting up bank accounts for the hijackers in San Diego. Videos released in 2022 show Awlaki warmly greeting Bayoumi before the events of September 11.

With the U.S. government having years of warnings, connections, and unanswered questions, Awlaki’s story has continued to raise questions about intelligence failures, foreign alliances, and the consequences of intervention. As we approach the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the question Awlaki leaves behind is why so many warning signs were missed, and why some answers remain hidden.

Seattle-area corporate giants, including Microsoft, Starbucks, Costco, and Alaska Airlines, are pressuring City Hall for a new public safety plan amid concerns about violent crime and ongoing disorder after years of failed progressive experiments have transformed parts of the metro area into a hellhole. 

🚨THIS IS INSANE!!!!

A community is now BEGGING for help after a tiny homeless encampment in Seattle EXPLODED into a SEVERAL ACRE camp.

In just over a year, a small cluster of tents became a GIGANTIC tent city.

The people who live there, families, homeowners, taxpayers, have… pic.twitter.com/aPm2WVLNmS

— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) September 7, 2026

The coalition includes Microsoft President Brad Smith, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, Costco CEO Ron Vachris and executives from Nordstrom, Alaska Air Group and other major employers, according to local outlet Komo News. Their letter, sent to City Hall on Thursday, brings coordinated pressure from the business community to change how City Hall governs. 

2024 donations (employees + PACS):

Starbucks: 92% went to Democrats
Microsoft: 84% went to Democrats
Costco: 80% went to Democrats

Ya’ll literally voted for it https://t.co/V3XPDnOcdC

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) September 11, 2026

“The clearest message” from an August poll of Seattle voters, the coalition wrote, is that residents expect the city “to act with urgency, fund the actions needed to improve public safety, and provide a clear plan for measuring progress.” 

DO YOU TIME TRAVEL? Literal madness on the streets of Seattle Monday afternoon. A woman was totally naked on the sidewalk across the street from Seattle City Hall. This is the best I could do with the blurs. 🙃
I asked if she needed help. Instead, she wanted my muffins. Then she… pic.twitter.com/EhfsepupF9

— Jonathan Choe (@choeshow) September 5, 2023

The coalition wants cameras in Pioneer Square, the Stadium District and other areas hosting large events. It also seeks more foot and bicycle patrols, adherence to a seven-minute response standard for priority 911 calls, and an end to open-air drug markets. 

“We need action,” former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, now the CEO of Challenge Seattle, said. “We’ve got a crisis on our hands right now, and we need action on public safety.”

Breaking — Following the inauguration of Seattle’s newly-elected Social Mayor Katie Wilson, Seattle police has been ordered to stop making arrests for open-air drug use.

This is the current scene in Seattle, close to Lumen Field, where the World Cup is set to take place.… pic.twitter.com/s5FwdDpzXD

— Katie Daviscourt 📸 (@KatieDaviscourt) January 7, 2026

Perhaps the progressive experiment of defunding police and open-air drug markets has run its course, and shame on the corporations that fueled this era of left-wing stupidity.