SpaceX Rebounds From Near-50% Rout As Starship Launch Catalyst Nears
SpaceX has slipped below its heavily hyped $135 IPO price and has been nearly halved from its all-time high, which was reached during the June 15 gamma squeeze that briefly sent shares above $220 in overnight trading.
Last Thursday’s scrub of Starship’s 13th test flight added further downward pressure, with shares touching $119 on Monday. The stock rebounded on Tuesday ahead of Thursday’s next launch attempt, positioning Flight 13 as a near-term catalyst.
The last-second abort was triggered after four of the Super Heavy booster’s 33 Raptor engines failed to ignite, prompting an automatic shutdown. “To be confident of a good flight, two Raptors will be removed and replaced,” Elon Musk wrote on X.
Flight 13 will be the first Starship launch conducted with SpaceX trading as a public company, giving investors direct exposure to the mission’s outcome. A successful flight could help restore confidence in the company’s stock and bonds, while another failure would likely deepen the latest sell-off.
Credit markets are already flashing caution. SpaceX issued $25 billion of bonds across five maturities, including $3.5 billion of 6.65% notes due in 2056, which have moved steadily lower since entering secondary trading.
Quite a divergence today…
The question now is whether a successful Starship launch Thursday can put a floor under SpaceX shares, which have underperformed most other major Nasdaq IPOs during the opening days and weeks of trading.
Coinbase Vice Chair Ryan VanGrack said the Clarity Act has gained “tremendous momentum” in the Senate, in a CNBC “Squawk Box” appearance that made the case for a federal crypto framework and touched on bitcoin, blockchain, and the industry’s uneasy truce with Wall Street.
VanGrack, a former SEC official, framed the Clarity Act as an overdue set of rules rather than a giveaway.
“It’s not about no regulation,” he said.
“This is about imposing regulation on the industry for the first time.”
He described a “win-win-win” for American investors, innovators, and standards should the measure pass, and said a bipartisan group of senators has kept up work “even in the last few weeks and days.”
Clarity Act updates
The House passed its version of the Clarity Act last year, and attention has shifted to the Senate, where the path to 60 votes remains the central hurdle.
President Trump added his voice last week, posting on Truth Social in support of Senator Lindsey Graham and calling on the Senate to pass the bill. Trump framed the stakes in terms of competition with China, a message he has repeated as he presses the chamber to move.
VanGrack said Democrats have won concessions that strengthen the bill’s consumer protections.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Coinbase Vice Chair talks CLARITY ACT on CNBC
“The Democrats have obtained meaningful concessions to make what was already a strong consumer protection bill, THAT much stronger” 👏 pic.twitter.com/y3n04dKdRi
He pointed to an illicit-finance framework, an “FTX loophole” that the text would close, insider-trading safeguards, and added disclosures.
“Across the board, the Democrats have obtained meaningful concessions to make what was already a strong consumer protection bill that much stronger,” he said.
He said the bill would not change how crypto is classified as a commodity or a security in a fundamental sense, and would preserve the registration, examination, and surveillance structure from the House version.
Asked how the industry reconciles with skeptics like JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon, VanGrack pointed to a wave of bank and institutional deals.
“Not a week goes by,” he said, where a firm fails to announce a new crypto project or investment. He predicted an “inevitable convergence,” a point at which the market stops separating traditional finance from crypto and treats each as a modern financial institution.
Dimon, for his part, has declared war on the Clarity Act and aimed a crude insult at Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, a reminder that the détente carries friction.
The odds of the Clarity Act being signed into law in 2026 jumped notably today…
Is bitcoin real?
The interview turned to a sharper question from CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin: whether blockchain is real but bitcoin is not. VanGrack called it “a fair question” and said the technology’s benefits stand on their own — faster settlement, more transparency, and round-the-clock transactions.
He argued that no one building a financial system today would recreate the infrastructure of the past century. He cited Citadel Securities, which he said made another large investment in the crypto economy last week, as a sign that major institutions are trending the same course.
Sorkin pressed the harder edge of the design: the technology aims to remove the counterparty a customer might call when something goes wrong. VanGrack conceded the point as fair, then countered with the costs of the current system — days to reconcile trades and the counterparty risk that delay creates.
“I’m not here to tell you it’s the wrong technology,” he said. He acknowledged open questions, including whether crypto accounts should carry interest or loyalty rewards, a debate that bankers have raised and that the law will settle as “a blunt instrument.”
He closed on the case for Clarity Act passage.
“In the absence of clarity, you do not have a federal oversight and framework,” he said. “So whether you love crypto or hate crypto, you should want” the Clarity Act.
Chaotic Bodycam Video Shows Trans Florida Student Confront Cop Over ‘Misgendering’ Before Arrest
Newly released police bodycam video shows a University of Central Florida student confronting a campus officer over pronouns before being pepper-sprayed, tased, and taken away in handcuffs.
The footage shows Jarrett Vick, a 27-year-old blue-haired UCF student from Treasure Island, Florida, shouting at an officer who had arrived at a campus building on an unrelated call. The video was recorded in February 2025 but released Friday by the YouTube channel Inside The Blue TV.
“Why do you let those pigs get away with this? They are not supposed to be here,” Vick says at the start of the clip.
The officer tells him to lower his voice or be placed in handcuffs. Vick responds by cursing at him: “Fucking try it. Are you threatening me? You’re threatening me.”
The officer calls for backup on his radio. “He is having a breakdown,” he tells dispatch – at which point Vick screams, “She! She! Just say the right pronoun!”
The officer draws his pepper spray and orders Vick to calm down, deploying it when he does not. A university employee appears and attempts to defuse the situation.
“Get away! Fuck you! Fuck you, cop!” Vick shouts, and the employee walks off.
Later in the footage, Vick is seen stomping his foot and shouting “She!” at the officer, and asks the university employee to tell the officers to use the right pronouns, saying it is causing him a lot of distress.
“She, sheeee!!!!!” Vick shrieked. “Just say the right pronoun!”
He was taken into custody after being tased by a second officer, according to the video, which followed Vick attempting to kick and swing at the officers. He is then shown being placed in the back of a squad car. The incident is dated Feb. 5, 2025.
Approached by the Post, Vick said he had been “fucking harassed by the cops” and blamed them for what he described as harassment from the media.
Court records show Vick was charged that day with battery on law enforcement, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct. He pleaded not guilty to all three counts. His most recent court appearance is dated Jan. 16, and Orange County records list the cases as closed. He is listed as male in his arrest records.
A viral video from inside a Home Depot in Dearborn, Michigan shows department signs for the likes of Appliances, Paint, Plumbing now carrying Arabic script alongside the English.
This is not some minor accessibility tweak. It is another clear marker of demographic transformation in a city where Middle Eastern and North African ancestry already exceeds 54 percent.
The footage captures shoppers navigating orange-and-black signs that translate core retail categories into Arabic. A woman in full niqab walks the aisle as the camera pans across the bilingual displays. The same pattern has appeared at other major chains serving the area, including Walmart, Costco, Kroger and Albertsons.
WOW ? Home Depot in Dearborn, Michigan has added Arabic to their signs inside the store
This is not assimilation, this is an Islamic Takeover of America
I found many major retailers in Dearborn have also added Arabic, locations at stores like Walmart, Home Depot, Costco,… pic.twitter.com/bWPmpeuHyO
This represents the quiet rewriting of the public commercial space to accommodate a parallel linguistic reality.
Dearborn has long been held up as the model of successful Arab-American settlement. What the signs demonstrate is something different: the expectation that American businesses will adapt to the language of the newest arrivals rather than the other way around.
One commenter wrote, “That doesn’t encourage integration. It only causes increased segregation for a people which don’t want to integrate anyway. If I were to move to an Arabic country. I would never expect them to learn to speak English. I have too much respect for other lands to consider thinking like that. US citizens have been down that road, encouraging segregation is wrong.”
Another simply stated, “Gross. Never going to Home Depot again, it’s tainted now.” A third declared, “Damn, I guess I’ll be shopping at ACE or Lowe’s from now on. This is fucking absurd.”
Dearborn’s large immigrant population from Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries is the stated rationale for the change. Yet the practical effect is to normalize foreign-language dominance in everyday American retail.
English remains the common language of the country. Private businesses are free to chase customers however they choose. That does not make the visual result any less revealing of the direction of travel.
This development sits on a continuum of institutional accommodation that has also reached local law enforcement in the same metro area.
Just months earlier, the Dearborn Heights Police Department became the first in the United States to introduce an official uniform patch featuring Arabic script. The episode revealed how quickly “diversity” initiatives move from optional gestures to official symbols of authority.
Dearborn Heights has a combined Middle Eastern and North African population of around 40 percent, while nearby Dearborn has a majority 55 percent.
Both areas, along with other towns such as Hamtramck, have attracted Arab communities with immigration from Lebanon, Yemen, and other Middle Eastern countries.
Islamization of Michigan!
Just days ago, thousands of Shia Muslims marched down the streets of Dearborn, Michigan, in the Tenth Annual Ashura Procession.
This controversial event took place in Muslim Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s district, and as you will notice, there… pic.twitter.com/Gwxj9zUUfR
It’s known for being the first Muslim-majority city in the US.
What many don’t know is that before Muslims moved there, it was a majority Middle Eastern Christian town, mostly populated by Lebanese Christians and Assyrians fleeing persecution.
The city of Dearborn in Michigan is home to the largest Muslim population in the United States per capita as well as the largest mosque in North America.
Large anti-Israel protests have been taking place there over the past 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/WqxgGgQp3X
While there are Arabic speaking Orthodox Christians in Dearborn from earlier immigration movements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they have become proportionally smaller due to immigration trends favoring Muslim-majority groups, which now define much of the city’s Arab identity.
Did you know that before becoming America’s jihad capital, Dearborn, Michigan, was a thriving center of Middle Eastern Christian culture?
Not a lot of people know, but Dearborn was initially settled in the early 20th century by Lebanese Christians and Assyrians/Chaldeans fleeing… pic.twitter.com/quIAQ2933K
This has sparked controversies, such as over public broadcasts of the Islamic call to prayer.
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.
These Chips Are Scorching Hot: Utz Soars 90% On Take-Private Deal
Chips are scorching hot on Tuesday, but not the kind made by Nvidia, AMD or Intel.
Shares of Utz Brands, the Hanover, Pennsylvania-based snack maker known for its potato chips, cheese balls and red-and-white “Little Utz Girl” logo, erupted after European snack giant Intersnack agreed to take the company private.
Utz Brands surged 90% after European snack maker Intersnack agreed to take the potato-chip producer private for $14.25 a share in cash.
Utz Brands
The transaction will be financed with about $920 million from Intersnack, new term and asset-backed loans, and rollover equity from the Rice and Lissette family. BofA Securities advised Intersnack and arranged the debt financing.
“Intersnack shares our vision for Utz, and their marketing, manufacturing, and technology capabilities will be invaluable as we continue to invest in our brands and accelerate our strategy,” Utz CEO Howard Friedman said.
The Utz take-private deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals. Holders controlling about 42% of the stock have agreed to support the transaction. Utz will delist from the NYSE, with Intersnack and the Rice and Lissette family each owning 50%. Dylan Lissette will become executive chair.
“Our partnership with the Rice and Lissette Family, and commitment to Utz, represents a compelling opportunity for Intersnack to expand our exposure into the large and attractive US snacking market, where we do not currently have a presence,” Intersnack Executive Chairman Johan van Winkel said.
The deal gives Intersnack its first foothold in the US snack market. Utz, which maintained its 2026 organic-sales growth forecast of 2% to 3%, reports second-quarter earnings early next month.
Utz shares are trading nearly 90% higher, close to the $14.25 take-private price. Short interest stands at roughly 11% of the float, equivalent to about 8 million shares and 3.9 days to cover, likely amplifying the move.
Shortly after Utz completed its SPAC merger with Collier Creek Holdings in August 2020 at roughly $10 a share, the stock surged to nearly $30 before entering a five-and-a-half-year downtrend.
Kimi, Crude, & Carney: Rabobank Sums Up The Geopolitical Chaos
Authored by Molly Schwartz, Rabobank cross-asset macro strategist,
Trading Playbooks
The advancement of one of China’s AI models, Kimi, has sharpened attention on the latest US plans to counter China’s growing AI challenge. Kimi is reportedly more powerful than several US flagship models, though not yet as powerful what lies on the frontier. However, Kimi operates at a fraction of the cost per token. That cost advantage raises the competitive threat to US AI leadership more broadly, including for other leading firms in the space, and Trump is once again taking a page out of China’s playbook by cracking down on the free market and unfettered competition. With tariffs, the US sought to limit China’s influence to bolster its own struggling manufacturing sector. Now, the more immediate question is whether Washington will do the same in an attempt to maintain its lead in the AI race…and if it will be successful.
According to Axios, “the Commerce Department last year considered adding multiple Chinese AI labs to its ‘Entity List,’ which would effectively cut off US access without a license.” The US is considering other avenues of approach as well, such as banning Chinese AI for national security reasons. But not all in the land of the free are happy with Trump’s interventionist approach to global markets. Axios reports that David Sacks said on X that “we are at a critical inflection point in AI policy,” warning that leading closed labs want the government to eliminate their open- source competition. For markets, the issue is not just who builds the best model, but whether AI becomes another front in the fragmentation of global capital, technology, and trade flows.
But protecting US AI dominance domestically may not be enough. China has made itself the manufacturing hub of the world, exporting cheap, shiny goods at a rapid pace and allowing its sphere of influence to grow throughout developing and emerging markets. As these same markets adopt the need for AI infrastructure, who are they more likely to turn to? The niche technically superior (?) and more expensive US AI models, or the cheaper Chinese alternatives that do almost as good of a job?
While the US tries to restrict China’s access to new customers in the AI market, the Houthis may be unintentionally squeezing China’s access to its existing customers in the physical goods market. The Houthis have announced that they plan to impose a sea navigation ban against the Saudis, blocking off the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which separates the Red Sea (and the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal) from the Arabian Sea.
As the flow of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz remains limited under the current escalation, additional risks to the global supply chain are the last thing global economies need. Brent crude oil opened above $90/bbl yesterday—the highest price since June 11—and diesel traded around $16/bbl—the highest price since May. Additional upward pressure on oil prices because of the Houthis only further increases the fears of a supply-side-driven inflation shock and a consequential slowdown in economic activity as consumers struggle to keep up with the cost of living.
That means fewer consumers willing and able to purchase Chinese imports. A significant part of the current energy narrative, which is also informing our energy forecasts, is that China has more oil reserves than many once thought, giving China more room to wait out the war by drawing on its reserves. Therefore, yes, disruptions to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait may have little direct impact on China’s energy supply, but Xi is unlikely to welcome the pressure they put on China’s customers.
Europe, meanwhile, remains firmly behind the curve on both AI development, and the situation in the Middle East. It is, however, seeking to build its own additional barriers to global trade as Brussels tries to enforce new sanctions on Russia. But the EU’s habit of regulating itself into irrelevance is once again making an appearance, and several member states are putting up barriers of their own against Brussels. The Financial Times reports that Greece refused to sign on to the sanctions agreement, demanding a carve-out that would allow it to continue transporting Russian LNG. Austria, France, Greece, Germany, Italy, and Portugal also came to the table with their own demands. The FT cites a diplomat saying that “around the table, the moral imperative is functioning less and less. Capitals all agree on tough rhetoric and talk of solidarity, but then it all melts away.”
Over the weekend, the World Cup was able to do what the USMCA wasn’t – bring the leaders from the US, Canada, and Mexico together. Many people (mostly economists and market-types) wondered if the three would have some trilateral conversations about trade and the ambiguous status of the USMCA. An announcement from yesterday would suggest that if those conversations did happen, they didn’t go especially well for Canada.
As highlighted earlier in this article, Trump is no stranger to trading playbooks with leaders from more centrally planned economies, and tariffs have emerged as a signature tool of this Administration. Yesterday, Trump signed three proclamations to enforce additional tariffs on Canadian goods, covering motor vehicles, alcoholic beverages, and dairy. These proclamations enforce 50% tariffs across several product lines “ranging from wine to hockey sticks to cement” by leveraging Section 388 of the Tariff Act of 1930. Bloomberg notes that Section 338 has never been used by a President to impose tariffs. As a major distinction from previous tariffs we have seen the Trump Administration enforce on Canadian and Mexican goods, these explicitly “apply to all covered goods regardless of whether a good originates under the USMCA.” They are currently scheduled to take effect in 30 days.
Just because proclamations are signed does not mean that these tariffs will come to fruition, or that even if they do come to fruition, they will be long-lasting. This is not the first time the Trump Administration has leveraged tariffs as a negotiating tool, and then dampened them once demands were met. Given the USTR National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, issues involving the dairy, alcohol, and vehicles were always bound to come to the forefront in the USMCA negotiations. These tariffs likely serve as an intended message to Canada that the US wants to “even out the playing field” and will not take no for an answer.
The next step is for Ottawa to negotiate with the US before these tariffs come into effect, or, forbid, try to call Washington’s bluff.
Feds Flagged Daszak As ‘An Extremely High Person Of Interest’ – Then The FBI Told Them To Stand Down
Customs officers spent three days building a border examination for the man at the center of the COVID origins fight – until Biden’s FBI put a stop to it with a single email.
On February 2, 2021, a national targeting security specialist at U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center circulated a referral to colleagues across the agency. The subject was Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, scheduled to land at John F. Kennedy International Airport three days later aboard Qatar Airways flight 701 from Doha, arriving 2:25 p.m. He was returning from the World Health Organization’s mission to Wuhan investigating the origins of SARS-CoV-2.
The referral asked that Daszak be considered for a Tactical Terrorism Response Team examination – a secondary inspection that can include questioning and a review of electronic devices. Which, now we know, never happened.
Senator Rand Paul, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released the underlying records Monday. They show CBP flagged Daszak as “an extremely high person of interest,” built out a formal targeting event, and then stood down two days before his flight at the request of the FBI’s New York Field Office.
Rand Paul releases docs that reveal FBI halted border inspection of virus researcher over Wuhan lab links | Louis Casiano, Fox News
Agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) were preparing to question a British zoologist and disease ecology expert upon his return to… pic.twitter.com/e6IouRls9Q
According to the materials, officers noted Daszak’s affiliation with Zhengli Shi – the WIV virologist known as “Bat Woman” – and that EcoHealth and Daszak had been working with her for more than fifteen years. They listed him as principal investigator on two NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grants: 1U01AI151797-01, “Understanding Risk of Zoonotic Viruses Emergence in EID Hotspots of Southeast Asia,” and 2R01AI110964-06, “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence,” running June 2014 through June 2024. A search of the latter grant, the officers wrote, returned 19 publications, many authored by Shi – who listed the grant on her own resume despite not appearing as a principal investigator on it.
The assessment that has drawn the most attention is blunter: “Much of the funding DASZAK receives is put towards gain of function research.” The officers defined the term in the document itself as experimentation aiming to increase a pathogen’s transmissibility or virulence.
They also flagged EcoHealth’s contracts with the Department of Homeland Security’s Chemical and Biological Threat Division, noting that much of what the organization studied was likely subject to nondisclosure agreements or export controls – a live concern for someone crossing a border. And they noted NIH had publicly asked Daszak to retrieve the original type-specimen WIV used for genetic analysis and return it to the United States, along with explaining aspects of the collaboration including cell phone data.
The Questions They Planned To Ask
The request section reads like a deposition outline. Why was Daszak chosen for the WHO team? Where in China did he go, and where did he stay? Did the team visit the WIV – and if so, which areas did it inspect, and whom did it meet? Did it visit the Chinese Center for Disease Control? Did it meet any other Chinese government officials?
Then the physical questions. Did Daszak collect biological samples during the trip? Was he traveling with any? Had he mailed samples back to the United States? Had he taken materials with him to China? Had he maintained contact with anyone at the WIV, and if so, how often and about what?
The final line asks about the purpose of separate travel between January 4 and January 7, 2021 – a trip the documents do not otherwise explain.
‘Please Disregard Request For Inspection’
On February 4 at 12:16 p.m., a CBP deputy chief officer serving as the agency’s Joint Terrorism Task Force liaison sent a message to a long list of recipients, the addresses now redacted. It was brief. “Please be advised FBI New York requested we do not stop the subject below.”
The subject line of the referral chain was amended to read “DISREGARD.” A follow-up instructed colleagues to disregard the inspection request and said the subject would be routed elsewhere for any requests. The National Targeting Center’s own summary of the episode closes the matter in eight words: “FBI requested not to stop subject. No further NTC action.”
The documents do not say why. No rationale appears anywhere in the release. An FBI request of this kind can reflect an active investigation the bureau does not want disturbed, an interest in protecting sources or methods, or a separate arrangement already in place. None of that is in the record, and Paul’s release does not claim to know. Fox News reported that the bureau did not respond to its request for comment.
Nor are these classified records, despite some coverage describing them that way. The pages carry a Law Enforcement Sensitive / For Official Use Only caveat – restricted handling, but unclassified.
The Man In The Targeting Package
Daszak was then president of EcoHealth Alliance, the New York nonprofit that routed NIH funding to bat coronavirus work at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and one of ten members of the WHO team whose selection drew criticism at the time given his financial and professional entanglement with the lab the mission was meant to examine.
What the WHO team’s critics did not know at the time was the full contents of a proposal Daszak had assembled three years earlier. In March 2018, EcoHealth submitted a $14.2 million bid to DARPA titled “Defusing the Threat of Bat-borne Coronaviruses” – DEFUSE – with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Ralph Baric’s lab at UNC-Chapel Hill, and several other partners. The proposal set out plans to build full-length infectious clones of bat SARS-related coronaviruses, to screen for receptor binding domains suited to human cells, and to insert proteolytic cleavage sites into bat coronavirus spike proteins, testing the results in mice engineered to carry human receptors. Early drafts later obtained under FOIA show the authors were specifically interested in furin cleavage sites at the S1/S2 junction. DARPA rejected the bid, citing in part gain-of-function concerns. The following year, a novel bat-derived coronavirus carrying a furin cleavage site at precisely that junction began infecting people in Wuhan – a feature absent from every closely related sarbecovirus catalogued to date.
DEFUSE never officially became public through Daszak. It surfaced in September 2021, when the online research group DRASTIC obtained leaked copies and The Intercept published an account – eight months after the WHO mission he sat on had returned from Wuhan, and seven months after CBP’s targeting package was quietly shelved. Daszak’s defense has been consistent and narrow: “The DARPA proposal was not funded. Therefore, the work was not done. Simple.” EcoHealth has argued the project required a budget and multi-lab coordination it never received, so the experiments could not have been performed. The counter-case is equally specific: internal drafts show Daszak advising Baric and Shi that he wanted the proposal to emphasize the American side of the work to keep DARPA “comfortable,” even though WIV would do much of it – and separately, virologist Kristian Andersen, a prominent advocate of natural origin, has argued the formal proposal specified cleavage sites at a different position on the spike than the one SARS-CoV-2 carries. None of that was disclosed while Daszak was helping investigate the lab in question.
What followed is now well documented. After the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic found EcoHealth had failed to report gain-of-function experiments at WIV, ignored oversight requests, and filed a required research report two years late, HHS suspended the organization’s funding in May 2024 and opened debarment proceedings. In January 2025 it formally debarred both EcoHealth and Daszak personally for five years. EcoHealth terminated his employment effective January 6, 2025, and the organization is now defunct. Daszak has never been charged with a crime, has consistently denied wrongdoing, and has argued the investigations were politically driven. He now heads Nature Health Global, a nonprofit working on ecological research and pandemic prevention.
The intelligence picture also moved. The FBI assessed with moderate confidence that a laboratory incident was the likely origin; the Department of Energy reached the same conclusion with low confidence. Last year the White House published a comprehensive origins report naming a lab-related incident involving gain-of-function research as the most likely explanation.
The Reading Room – And What Comes Next Week
“They told the public a COVID lab leak ‘wasn’t plausible,'” Paul wrote on X. “Their own private messages say otherwise. Today I’m launching The Reading Room where the public can review records related to my ongoing investigation – not just conclusions but the actual documents.” He added: “This isn’t the whole story. It’s the start of one.” The archive sits at paul.senate.gov/readingroom and will be updated on a rolling basis.
🧵They told the public a COVID lab leak “wasn’t plausible.” Their own private messages say otherwise. Today I’m launching The Reading Room where the public can review records related to my ongoing investigation – not just conclusions but the actual documents.
The timing is not incidental. As Just The News noted, the documents landed just over a week before Anthony Fauci is scheduled to testify before Paul’s committee on whether he misled Congress about NIAID funding for gain-of-function work at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
One detail in the file is easy to miss. The email chain was forwarded internally on September 3, 2025 – four and a half years after the fact, and presumably in response to the committee’s records demand. Whatever the FBI’s reason for calling off the stop in February 2021, it stayed inside CBP’s system until a Senate chairman went looking for it.
Trump Eyes Pickaxe Mountain Nuclear Site Heavy Strikes: “Iran Hasn’t Seen Anything Yet, We’ve Been Nice”
Summary
Shipping disruption: Houthi threats forced two Saudi oil tankers to turn around in the Red Sea as Hormuz traffic slowed sharply after more tanker attacks.
Escalation in Gulf: Iran claimed strikes on infrastructure in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan, while Kuwait reported a second day of attacks on power and desalination plants.
Trump vows more to come: The US launched fresh strikes on Iranian targets, Trump vowed retaliation, and Reuters reported a proposed 10-day ceasefire. “We’ve been nice,” Trump says, warning of more attacks to come.
Oil surges: Crude prices hit multi-week highs amid shipping disruptions, with warnings oil could reach $120 if fighting continues.
Pentagon scrutiny: The New York Times reported the Pentagon withheld information about dozens of US troops injured in Iranian attacks before the deadly Jordan missile strike.
Trump Gives Wide-Ranging Comments on Iran: Doesn’t Want to Talk, “We’ve Been Nice”
President Trump issued a series of big claims to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. For starters he asserted that Iran wants to “desperately” meet but said “we” have no interest, and that the US military is not finished at all with Iran, and so there’s no interest in talking at the moment.
And amid polls that show the war is increasingly unpopular among American voters, he stated that Iran is “probably” trying to hurt his and his Republican Party’s chances in the upcoming congressional elections in November by seeking to control Strait of Hormuz, and with the latest attacks on international shipping. “I’m just going to do the right thing,” Trump claimed, before saying that “The election, I can’t think about that having to do with this. I think people are very impressed.”
He also revisited the Obama-era JCPOA, saying if the US hadn’t “terminated the nuclear deal” then “you wouldn’t have Israel right now because they would have had a nuclear weapon years ago.“ He added that “if we didn’t do the B2 bombers knocking out the nuclear sites a year ago, one of the first things we did early in the administration, they [Iran] would have a nuclear weapon, and you wouldn’t have Israel.” Trump continued, “And in my opinion, you wouldn’t have various other countries in the Middle East [as] they would have been terminated, extinguished.”
He continued to be pressed on what the ‘plan’ and end goal is, and what the stopping and exit point might be. The president’s response:
Reporter: There are no signs that Iran is ready to stop fighting. So, what is the plan?
Trump: How would you know? How would you know if there are no signs? Why?
Another big threat and warning came when Trump declared that “Iran hasn’t seen anything yet” as “we’ve been nice” so far. Below is a quick rundown of some key statements from the fresh press interaction:
No interest in meeting Iran until they are ready.
Iran has very evil people leading the country.
Our deal will not let Iran have a nuclear weapon.
We’ll hit any site Iran is thinking about for nuclear.
Iran probably trying to impact elections with Hormuz.
Iran hasn’t seen anything yet; have been nice.
On Pickaxe Mountain, will hit that area soon and very heavily.
Israel has meanwhile been alleging that Iran is concentrating its nuclear program at highly fortified Pickaxe Mountain. Trump in the comments suggested the US military will take direct aim at the underground complex:
Trump says the U.S. will be hitting Pickaxe mountain in Iran “pretty soon very heavily and there is nothing they can do about it”
Two tankers carrying Saudi crude make U-turns in Red Sea after Houthi warning
The just-declared (as of Monday) Houthi blockade on Saudi maritime shipping has already begun to witness ill-effects, as reports emerge of two oil tankers having made U-turns while initially en route toward the Suez Canal. The reports say their crews received threats from Houthi militants in Yemen. The emerging details:
Two oil tankers which loaded Saudi crude for China and India made U-turns in the Red Sea and headed toward the Suez following a warning from Yemen’s Houthi militia.
…The group, in an email sent to shipping companies, warned them not to load or discharge cargo at Saudi Arabian ports and said such activity may result in being targeted “in any location”.
Dollar and yields spiking as oil rises…. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) has reached six-week highs on Tuesday.
MAP OF THE DAY: Starting to see some oil tankers either U-turning or slowing down on their approach to the Bab El-Mandeb Strait (near Yemen). First sign that the Houthi treat is having an impact — HOWEVER, many otherS are still going ahead from the Gulf of Aden into the Red Sea pic.twitter.com/7aYhuLz5b9
IRGC Says it Attack Amazon’s Main Data Hub in Bahrain
Amid a spate of fresh attacks on Gulf states, the IRGC claimed its cruise missiles destroyed Amazon’s central data infrastructure in Bahrain and also hit US air defense systems. Bahraini, US and Amazon officials issued no response in the immediate aftermath.
The IRGC said its Aerospace Force targeted and “destroyed” the central data infrastructure hub in Bahrain using several cruise missiles. It further stated that “US air defense systems and radar installations in the Bahraini areas of Muharraq and Riffa were also targeted” in the attack.
If accurate this highlights yet again that billions of dollars worth of infrastructure is going up in flames in the Gulf, and that defense against missiles and drones has been waning
Kuwait Water Desalination & Power Plants Attacked for 2nd Consecutive Day
For a second consecutive day, Kuwait is reporting attacks on power-generation and water-desalination plants. The fresh assault caused fires and disrupted electricity generation, amid an emergency response and efforts begin restoring affected units.
Further attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan are also being reported, as well as new IRGC strikes on foreign tankers seeking ‘unauthorized’ transit of the Strait of Hormuz. According to some latest via Al Jazeera:
A desalination facility and power plants caught on fire and suffered serious damage in Kuwait after new Iranian strikes targeted the crucial facilities, along with areas of Bahrain and Jordan, following a 10th-consecutive night of US bombing.
“Massive fires” broke out on two tankers that “took an unsafe route” in the Strait of Hormuz, says Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
On Tuesday Kuwait has confirmed it is dealing with inbound Iranian drone and missile attacks yet again, also with sirens continuing to sound in Bahrain.
Iran Seeks To Hold Hormuz Leverage ‘At All Costs’
Despite daily US saturation strikes on Iran, and in turn Iran’s daily attacks on Gulf states, nothing has really changed in what seems a stalemated situation and quagmire.
Amin Saikal, emeritus professor at Australian National University, has described that “Both sides have really been trying to inflict heavy damage on each other, and they’ve come really to a point of saturation in many ways.” He continued, “Logically, that should really lead them to negotiation. But of course, that is not really happening at the moment simply because the United States wants to gain control over the Strait of Hormuz, and that’s something the Iranians will never give up.”
Saikal called Hormuz “a reward” for Tehran, while pointing out that “Because of this unprovoked war, the Iranians have gained this leverage, and they want to retain it at all costs.”
Still, President Trump is warning that Iran will pay “many times over” for the deaths of American soldiers, and has said he gave his Pentagon leaders directives for carrying this out.
10th Strait Day of Escalation
The tit-for-tat escalation between the US and Iran entered its tenth day as another tanker was struck in the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, the Iran-backed Houthis threatened shipping at a second strategic chokepoint in the southern Red Sea.
US Central Command launched strikes targeting Iranian command and control centers, missile and drone launch sites, and air defenses to “further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, was killed by an Iranian attack on Jordan on July 17, 2026
President Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Every time Iran kills an American soldier, they will pay for that killing many times over!”
Still, Pakistan and Qatar are urging both sides to return to their positions before the latest escalation began on July 9. Iran says it remains open to diplomacy but will not negotiate under attack, while the Trump team has signaled that strikes will continue until Tehran stops attacking tankers and bulk carriers in the critical waterway. Reuters reported that mediators have proposed a 10-day ceasefire.
Hormuz Traffic at Near Standstill as Another Tanker Struck
Shipping flows in the Hormuz have all but slowed, according to new Bloomberg data. As of Tuesday morning, just six vessels have transited the critical waterway. The data doesn’t account for ships turning off transponders.
Bloomberg reports that Iran struck another tanker in the strait:
Visible traffic through Hormuz came to a near standstill on Monday following Iranian attacks on vessels over the weekend.
An oil supertanker called the Acheloos and a smaller fuel tanker were both struck in the waterway, according to Dynacom Tankers Management Ltd., the ships’ manager.
Early Tuesday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations said that a tanker had been struck by an unknown projectile in the strait northeast of Oman’s Limah, citing multiple reports, without identifying the vessel. The notice indicates a separate attack to those on the Dynacom tankers.
The flare-up in violence sent Brent crude oil futures surging in recent weeks to over $90 a barrel, with Goldman commodity expert Daan Struyven warning on Monday that oil prices could rally to $120 if there is no de-escalation.
“Escalation in the Middle East and the decline in estimated Persian Gulf flows to below 45% of pre-war levels have pushed oil prices back up,” Struyven said in a note to clients.
Meanwhile, US consumers are feeling the pinch again at the pump, with the national average for regular 87-octane gasoline topping $4 a gallon once more. This is the politically sensitive line in the sand at which the Trump administration takes notice and consumer behavior begins to shift down at convenience stores, gas stations, and QSRs (quick-service restaurants).
Pattern of Pentagon Concealing US Casualties: NYT
The New York Times reported Monday that the Pentagon withheld information that US troops had been injured in Iranian attacks on Jordan in the week before the missile strikes that killed at least two US soldiers and left one missing.
“Those attacks injured dozens of U.S. service members and damaged several helicopters, according to several U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters,” the report says. “But the Pentagon did not disclose the earlier strikes, nor the casualties and damage they inflicted.”
The slain soldiers in Jordan were reportedly staying in flimsy prefabricated housing at the time of the deadly ballistic missile attack. US officials described a situation that suggests American forces were essentially sitting ducks, and that not enough has been done to protect the Pentagon’s Mideast bases.
NYT painted a picture of a US admin pattern of concealing the true extent of American casualties. “In statements after airstrikes against Iranian military sites last week, U.S. Central Command said it was retaliating for Iran’s attacks against commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, never mentioning Iran’s strikes on bases in the region, including in Jordan,” it noted.
Overnight Headlines
courtesy of Bloomberg…
US-Iran Tit-For-Tat
The US and Iran have exchanged strikes for a 10th consecutive day, with US Central Command targeting Iranian military command centers, launch sites, maritime capabilities, and air defenses.
Iran has retaliated by attacking US military sites in Kuwait and Jordan.
Trump vowed Tehran “will pay” after Iran killed three US soldiers.
According to the Washington Post, US intelligence reports suggest US strikes are unlikely to move Iran.
Iran’s Khorramabad area in Lorestan Province was attacked earlier today.
Diplomacy & Ceasefire Efforts
Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni began meetings Tuesday with mediators in Pakistan as diplomats sought to salvage a collapsed interim deal.
Mediators have proposed a 10-day ceasefire between Iran and the US to revive the interim deal, according to an unidentified senior Iranian official cited by Reuters.
Iran’s president said communication with Supreme Leader Khamenei has increased, per Tasnim reports.
Regional Risks
The Kaifan, an oil-products tanker owned by Kuwait Oil Tanker Co., was struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz northeast of Oman’s Limah.
The Houthi militant group in Yemen is threatening to blockade Saudi Arabia and target shipping in the Red Sea, adding to regional maritime risks.
Southeast Asian nations expressed “serious concern” over the conflict, warning of spillover effects on regional trade, food security, and energy markets.
Energy & Market Impact
Goldman Sachs says Brent crude could top $120 per barrel by the fourth quarter if Strait of Hormuz disruptions persist, though its base case remains $80 per barrel assuming de-escalation.
European natural gas futures extended gains, surging more than 20% over the previous seven sessions, as the conflict tightens supply ahead of winter.
Pakistan and Bangladesh were forced to buy some of their most expensive LNG shipments in years due to supply disruptions from the conflict. Pakistan LNG paid about $21.88 per MMBtu, its highest since 2022, according to traders with knowledge of the matter.
Kidnapping Is Not A ‘Violent Felony’: Appeals Court Voids Two More Whitmer Plot Convictions
A Michigan Court of Appeals panel on July 20 vacated the convictions of Pete Musico and Paul Bellar, two men a jury found guilty in 2022 of providing material support for an act of terrorism over their connection to the alleged 2020 plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
The reason? Michigan’s Anti-Terrorism Act defines an act of terrorism as conduct that would constitute a violent felony under state law. Kidnapping, the judges held, is not a violent felony as that term is defined. So kidnapping cannot serve as the predicate act for a material-support conviction – no matter what the defendants did or intended.
The panel did not reach that conclusion on its own. It was bound by a June decision in the case of co-defendant Joseph Morrison, decided by a different panel, which held that kidnapping “cannot properly form the basis for defendant’s conviction.” Monday’s per curiam opinion said the court was bound by that interpretation and that the jury in this case was tainted by the same erroneous instructions. Because the trial judge had told jurors to treat kidnapping as a violent felony, and because they heard extensive testimony about the plot, the appellate judges concluded the verdict may have rested on an invalid basis.
Both men had also been convicted of committing a felony motivated by gang membership and of possessing a firearm during a felony. Because kidnapping was the underlying felony in each, those convictions were vacated too – even though, the panel noted, jurors could reasonably have found that the Wolverine Watchmen, the group the men belonged to, functioned as a gang and appeared involved in illegal activity.
The sentences erased were substantial. Michigan Advance and the Free Press report Musico had drawn 12 to 20 years, the harshest of the three; Bellar seven to 20; Morrison 10 to 20, later corrected downward. Prosecutors had cast the trio – Morrison, his father-in-law Musico, and their acquaintance Bellar – as early members and founders of the Wolverine Watchmen, the militia that trained alongside the plot’s alleged ringleaders.
The cases now return to Jackson County Circuit Court. Because the reversal rests on instructional error rather than insufficiency of the evidence, the panel left the door open for further proceedings, and Attorney General Dana Nessel says she is walking through it.
“A previous ruling used linguistic gymnastics to overturn the conviction of an extremist,” Nessel said. “Now, that broken precedent has legally bound this Court of Appeals panel to reverse the convictions of two more dangerous criminals.” She said her office had already begun appealing the Morrison decision and would do the same here, adding that it “will not downplay domestic terrorism.” Lawyers for the three men could not be reached, The Epoch Times reported.
The Big Picture
Monday’s ruling lands on a prosecution whose record was mixed long before this. Fourteen people were charged across state and federal courts. Five were acquitted outright. With three convictions now vacated, six stand.
The federal case fared better for prosecutors, but only on the second attempt. In April 2022, a Grand Rapids jury acquitted Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta of conspiracy and deadlocked on Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., forcing a mistrial. Retried that August, Fox and Croft were convicted of conspiring to kidnap the governor and to use weapons of mass destruction, with Croft additionally convicted of possessing an unregistered explosive device wrapped in pennies for shrapnel, according to the Justice Department. Two others, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, pleaded guilty and testified for the government.
Entrapment was the defense’s central theme throughout, and it worked at least twice. Attorneys portrayed their clients as loudmouthed weekend hobbyists talked into a conspiracy by federal handlers. BuzzFeed News reported that informants working under FBI direction were involved in nearly every phase of the alleged plot including its inception, raising the obvious question of whether a conspiracy would have existed without them. Prosecutors countered that the men had discussed abducting Whitmer before the sting began, scouted her vacation home, and tested explosives. The Sixth Circuit sided with the government in 2025, calling the entrapment evidence “weak” and upholding both convictions.
None of that history has anything to do with Monday’s outcome; Musico and Bellar did not win on entrapment, on the facts, or on the sufficiency of the evidence against them. They won because Michigan’s legislature wrote a terrorism statute that, as two appellate panels now read it, does not reach the crime they were accused of supporting. Whether the Michigan Supreme Court agrees is the next question.
Most adults can safely drink five cups of coffee a day, according to the American Heart Association.
The organization said in a July 20 statement that synthesizes research on caffeine that the latest studies indicate that for most adults, consuming up to 400 milligrams of caffeine a day – or up to five 8-ounce cups of coffee – without added sugar and milk is not only safe, but appears to result in a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
Higher levels of caffeine, such as those found in energy drinks, may harm the heart and blood vessels, the association said.
Most of the studies underpinning the guidance come from observational research, although there are a growing number of randomized, controlled trials that examined the relationship between caffeine and various health problems, including a trial that found no impact on glucose levels.
The data suggest that moderate consumption of caffeine lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, among other problems, but that coffee consumption does increase premature ventricular contractions, or extra heartbeats, the group said. It indicates high doses of caffeine can lead to significant increases in blood pressure, particularly in people who already had high blood pressure. And it shows that consuming unfiltered coffee, which contains the lipid cafestol, raised serum cholesterol.
“Brewing method influences lipids,” Dr. Abdulla Damluji, an interventional cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic who was not involved with the new guidance, wrote on X. “Advise patients concerned about low density lipoprotein cholesterol to prefer paper filtered or instant coffee over French press, Greek or Turkish, or boiled coffee, because cafestol in unfiltered coffee raises cholesterol.”
Scientists behind the statement said there is a need for more data and noted that reactions to caffeine can vary among people.
“The data suggests that up to about three to five cups may have benefit and almost certainly is not harmful, but that doesn’t mean that consuming three to five drinks is better than having one drink per day,” Dr. Gregory Marcus, chair of the volunteer group that wrote the guidance, said in a video statement.
“So generally, the evidence suggests that people should listen to their bodies if consuming one cup of caffeinated coffee is enough and consuming two is uncomfortable. Individuals should not increase how much caffeine they’re consuming for health reasons.”
Researchers should prioritize studying caffeine in isolation from other ingredients in caffeinated beverages and examine whether introducing coffee to people who do not currently drink it yields positive health outcomes, the group said.
Most of the authors did not list any possible conflicts of interest. One listed being an unpaid consultant for the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences and working with manufacturers such as Keurig, and another said he consults for Boston Scientific Corp, which makes pacemakers and other devices for people with heart issues.
The heart association in 2025 had advised children to avoid caffeine, and had in the past said that adults could derive benefits from coffee but that drinking two or more cups a day could double the risk of heart death in people suffering from severe hypertension.
