Very early into the COVID-19 pandemic, ZeroHedge suggested that a little-known Chinese lab in Wuhan might know something about the novel coronavirus sweeping the globe. As a result, and as you know, we were subject to an intense demonetization / deplatforming campaign that included getting kicked off of Twitter, PayPal, Facebook and other platforms, dropped by our advertisers, and targeted by MSM hit pieces which colluded with foreign ‘watchdogs’ to inflict maximum damage. 

These same groups also targeted outlets including The Federalist and Breitbart over various reporting, which suffered similar fates. 

Now, thanks to a new book by investigative journalist Paul Holden that builds on reporting by Matt Taibbi, Paul Thacker and others, we learn that the origin of these campaigns, launched years before the pandemic, was none other than UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer’s political machine, which began targeting left-wing outlets speaking critically of Starmer such as The Canary, and then went after conservative outlets in America – just in time for the 2020 US election.

Documents and internal accounts, many drawn from newly disclosed materials, reveal a coordinated project that operated behind a veil of anonymity, misdirection, and unreported political financing.

This murky operation known as the Stop Funding Fake News (SFFN) was launched and resourced through a think tank, Labour Together, that would later be fined for failing to declare £739,000 in donations between 2018 and 2020. Said funds helped underpin this clandestine anti-media strategy which affected news outlets from the UK to the United States.

At the center of the effort was Morgan McSweeney, a political strategist who has since become Starmer’s chief of staff and, according to public commentary by prominent journalists, one of the most powerful unelected figures in the modern Labour Party.

The newly disclosed materials reveal that SFFN was not in fact some grassroots, anonymous activist collective it claimed to be, but a political weapon forged by senior Labour figures and funded by millionaire donors, including individuals active in pro-Israel political advocacy.

The goal: destabilize independent media ecosystems aligned with Labour’s left under Jeremy Corbyn, elevate Starmer’s leadership bid, and delegitimize outlets – domestic and foreign – that threatened the faction’s consolidation of power.

Publicly, SFFN claimed to be run by anonymous activists. Privately, it was shaped by McSweeney and operated from the same small office suite in South London that housed Labour Together.

SFFN ultimately migrated under the umbrella of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), an organization that grew out of a corporate shell once controlled solely by McSweeney. 

CCDH would later present SFFN as one of its signature initiatives.

Three Fronts of a Political Offensive

The documents reported by Holden reveal a three-part strategy that reshaped the British political landscape – and reverberated into U.S. media and politics. In a nutshell, this is how the sausage was made:

1. Destabilizing Jeremy Corbyn’s Leadership

SFFN’s narrative interventions were designed to amplify an “antisemitism crisis” that dogged Corbyn, boosting controversies and legitimizing a media ecosystem hostile to Labour’s left. This influence work aligned directly with the political interests of the centrist faction preparing for a post-Corbyn future.

2. Engineering Starmer’s Rise

Labour Together later claimed credit for helping deliver Starmer’s 2020 leadership victory, with McSweeney acting as his campaign chief. After Starmer won the July 2024 general election, McSweeney formally became chief of staff, solidifying the faction’s institutional dominance.

3. Silencing Dissenting Media

SFFN’s most aggressive project was an astroturf campaign against media outlets perceived as ideological threats. Targets spanned both the left (such as The Canary and Evolve Politics) and the right, as noted above. 

In each case, the tactic was the same: identify advertisers appearing on targeted sites, publicly shame them through social media threads, and provide tools – including downloadable blocklists – to automatically exclude those outlets from programmatic advertising networks. The effort succeeded in devastating the business model of some targets; others survived but saw sustained pressure.

We took matters into our own hands, launching our premium service and later the ZeroHedge store in order to keep the lights on (thank you). 

The Breitbart Offensive

Holden reports that SFFN then set their sights on Breitbart in October 2019 – after an anonymous X account tagged the UK Parliament and likened its ads on Breitbart to funding extremism. SFFN ran hard with this – promoting the allegation and labeling Breitbart a “bigoted, conspiracist fake news site.”

Later that day, the Press Association contacted Parliament for comment. Within hours, Parliament suspended the ads. To further legitimize the operation, anti-Corbyn MP Mary Creagh publicly leaned on the Conservative leadership to formalize the ban, citing a list of SFFN-identified sites.

Two weeks later, SFFN announced another victory: the UK Cabinet Office had implemented a “whitelist” that barred Breitbart, The Canary, and a long roster of other outlets from receiving government advertising.

On the 18^th of October 2019, SFFN posted that they had contacted an unnamed journalist about how the UK’s Cabinet Office was advertising on its target websites. The journalist found out that the Cabinet Office “now implemented a ‘whitelist’ meaning the government now only advertises on pre-approved websites. The Canary, Evolve, Rebel, Politicalite, Breitbart etc no longer receive government advertising.” The post ended with three handclap emojis. “Good to see government use its authority to set an example against these dishonest & hateful websites.” –Paul Holden via Drop Site

The campaign extended into the private sector. In 2020, Ford UK publicly stated it was investigating ad placements on Breitbart. By 2021, SFFN was targeting Breitbart’s YouTube monetization and urging advertisers to block the site across Google’s ad infrastructure.

The group’s blocklist eventually included 28 domestic and international sites, among them U.S. outlets aligned with the alt-right and the British far-right figure Tommy Robinson.

Weaponizing the Image of Grassroots Activism

Throughout 2019, SFFN steadfastly refused to disclose who ran the operation, claiming its activists faced undefined risks. Interviews and profiles repeated the fiction that it was just a small band of concerned citizens.

Yet from its inception, SFFN was powered by political professionals. It was launched only after McSweeney and CCDH’s Imran Ahmed recruited television personality Rachel Riley to front the campaign. Labour Together’s funds and office space supported its rollout. The project was effectively shielded from legal accountability by its anonymity, even as it issued sweeping defamatory accusations against its targets.

McSweeney and Ahmed asked if Riley would front a campaign to tackle The Canary. She agreed “with alacrity,” according to an account by two Sunday Times journalists. Her celebrity endorsement lifted SFFN out of obscurity and powered its success. She would later become a patron of CCDH and now lists herself on X as an “ambassador” of the organization. –Paul Holden via Drop Site

One of SFFN’s earliest and most consequential victims was The Canary. Though independently regulated and later cleared of allegations of racism or incitement, the outlet lost crucial advertising revenue and shed staff. Former employees described a chilling effect across the left media ecosystem as prominent commentators distanced themselves from a now-toxic brand.

The attack’s success was openly celebrated within liberal circles; commentators hailed SFFN for restoring “objective reality in politics,” even as its covert origins remained concealed.

CCDH, Twitter Files, and the Attempt to Rewrite History

The political sensitivity surrounding SFFN resurfaced in 2024, when leaked emails from CCDH showed repeated internal discussions about targeting Elon Musk’s Twitter. Amid the backlash, CCDH sources insisted McSweeney had played no operational role in the organization – a claim contradicted by company records showing he was the sole director of its precursor entity for more than a year and remained formally involved until April 2020.

In 2024, Matt Taibbi and Paul Thacker reported on emails leaked from within CCDH. They showed that, for over a year, CCDH’s internal team meetings included the action item: ‘kill Musk’s Twitter.’ ‘This is war,’ Musk posted in response. In the furor that followed, The Guardian was told that McSweeney had played no operational role in CCDH, which now claims ownership of the SFFN project. Imran Ahmed, who later claimed credit for both SFFN and CCDH on Twitter, claimed that McSweeney had simply gifted him a “shell company” (Brixton Endeavours) that was then converted into CCDH, and which later absorbed SFFN . The response was canny in not stipulating whether McSweeney had any operational role in SFFN. –Paul Holden via Drop Site

CCDH’s later retellings cast SFFN as an example of its “global” anti-hate strategies. One of its leaders described the financial approach explicitly: if news sites rely on advertising, “within a couple of months, you can completely eviscerate the economic base of a website.” SFFN had been the proving ground.

In 2023, Paul Thacker wrote in Tablet:

In March of 2021 a nonprofit group called the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) released a report about online misinformation. Founded in the U.K. by a former Labour Party political figure named Imran Ahmed, the CCDH was virtually unknown at the time in the U.S., but that was about to change. The report quickly reached the hands of executives at Twitter. “COVID-19 misinfo enforcement team is planning on taking action on a handful of accounts surfaced by the CCDH report,” a Twitter official wrote on March 31. One account they eventually took action against belonged to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was then running against Joe Biden for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.

A few months later, the same report was being cited by the Biden administration. At a press briefing in July 2021, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki quoted from the CCDH report in a briefing where she accused Facebook of undermining federal vaccine policies. “There’s about 12 people who are producing 65% of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms,” Psaki claimed, citing the CCDH’s work, while warning social media companies to shut down these “misinformation” accounts. “They’re killing people,” President Biden told a reporter a short time later, leveling the charge of murder against Facebook for its alleged role in providing a platform for “vaccine misinformation.”

Facebook’s Vice President Monika Bickert later criticized CCDH’s claims for being free of evidence—failing to define the term “anti-vaxx,” for example—and neglecting to explain how they came up with their numbers and conclusions. But it had little effect. By then the report had popularized the idea of a “disinformation dozen,” a narrative that hardened as it was promoted by countless news outlets, fact checkers, and social media accounts devoted to round-the-clock attacks on “disinformation.”

More recently, the CCDH has popped up again, leading the battle against Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, who has been cast as a champion of racists and antisemites. “The CCDH has been at the forefront of reporting on the hate proliferating on X/Twitter since Musk completed his takeover in late October 2022,” Ahmed wrote last month in The Observer. In a number of publications over the past year, the group has repeatedly blamed Musk for allowing his platform to spread hate speech. Once again, these efforts have been uncritically amplified in the press and in a letter to Musk from House Democrats that reiterates Ahmed’s claims, and cites him and CCDH.

Meanwhile, last month it was reported that the Trump White House plans to deport Imran Ahmed – who Thacker says should be prosecuted before that’s done. You can read Holden’s entire report over at Drop Site News, even though Ryan Grimm (formerly of HuffPost and The Intercept) is a massive dick who hates us for some reason.

💥NEW: How PM Keir Starmer’s Machine Quietly Moved to Cripple Breitbart, The Federalist, ZeroHedge, and Left Independent Outlets

On Breaking Points, Ryan introduces Drop Site’s latest investigation, adapted from Paul Holden’s book, exposing how Keir Starmer and his chief of… pic.twitter.com/NVPDm7aWmw

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) December 4, 2025

Update (1202ET): The man arrested in the Jan. 5, 2021 pipe bomb incident in DC has been identified as Brian Cole, according to Fox News. 

The current scene outside the J6 pipe bomber suspect Brian Cole’s Virginia homepic.twitter.com/3CptZpuxsD

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 4, 2025

🚨 BREAKING: The FBI has surrounded a home in Woodbridge, VA where alleged DC pipe bomber Brian Cole Jr., reportedly 33, was arrested this morning

Cole seemingly has very little online presence, and has been described as an “anarchist”

He’s expected to be arraigned today. pic.twitter.com/RsGhaEOydf

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) December 4, 2025

It is being reported that Cole’s father’s bail bond company was raided today along with his house. 

A Reddit user posted at 9:21 AM claiming to see police blocking off area outside a bail bonds shop (driving down Chain Bridge)

On Google Maps Street View at 4085 Chain Bridge Rd, there is a sign for ‘Brian Cole’ Bail Bonds pic.twitter.com/k75zhSh3A5

— Torch (@puss_q) December 4, 2025

MASSIVE: J6 Pipe Bomber suspect identified as Brian Cole from Virginia, per NBC.

There are new reports that the man is potentially tied to the terrorist group ANTIFA.

Major questions arise:

Why did Biden’s FBI fail to arrest the perp?

Why did the suspect use dummy bombs… pic.twitter.com/H1wd0ZgQXN

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) December 4, 2025

*  *  *

The FBI has arrested a Virginia man nearly five years after pipe bombs were placed at both the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters on Jan. 5, 2021 – the day before the events of Jan. 6. 

The suspect is expected to face charges for allegedly planting the devices, which were later deemed to be viable explosives that could have caused “serious injury or death.” 

The FBI did not share additional information about the suspect, however MS Now reports that the suspect has been linked to statements that show support for an anarchist ideology.

The bureau has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, reviewed over 39,000 video files, and fielded over 600 tips from the public – yet what led to the arrest was “the same trove of material that had mostly been gathered in 2021 and 2022,” two sources told the outlet – meaning that the Biden administration had the evidence over three years ago.

Video footage and photos of the suspect showed a figure walking around in a hoodie and a face mask. The bombs were quickly disarmed shortly after they were discovered.

“There is a massive cover-up, because the person who planted those pipe bombs — they don’t want you to know who it was, because it’s either a connected anti-Trump insider, or this was an inside job,” Dan Bongino, now the deputy FBI Director, said in November 2024 on his show. “Those bombs were planted there. This was a setup. I have zero doubt.”

Last month a forensic analysis pointed to a former US Capitol Police officer, whose unique gait due to a sports injury suggested that she was a match using a software tool that compared her stride to the suspect’s, Blaze Media reported.

Former FBI Special Agent Kyle Seraphin told Blaze News that, in the days immediately after Jan. 6, he and his team conducted surveillance “one door away” from the residence tied to the female suspect. He says the team was pulled off the assignment without explanation, and requests to interview a person linked to the suspect’s movements were denied.

So the fact that a man was just arrested suggests that while the FBI may have been looking into her, it may have been a dead end – or they’ve arrested the wrong person. 

The Blaze report was disputed by Headline USA and journalist Breanna Morello. 

The mysterious handling of the bombs drew scrutiny from Congress and the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general. Surveillance footage later released by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) showed Secret Service agents responding slowly after being told a device was found at the DNC. Agents remained in their vehicle eating lunch for roughly two minutes before investigating and allowed pedestrians and cars to pass near the device.

Earlier this year, a House committee report provided new insight into the investigation, highlighting multiple failures by law enforcement to detect the devices and properly secure the scene after their discovery. 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has very belatedly confirmed speaking with US President Donald Trump by phone late last month amid a huge US military buildup accompanied by Washington threatening war.

The phone call was ten days prior, but Maduro on Wednesday said he decided to speak about his “cordial” call with Trump as he wished to avoid “microphone diplomacy” at a moment international reports are ripe with speculation over the contents of the call.

US media, for example, has widely reported that Maduro and Trump talked amnesty, but this was ultimately rejected by the US side after Maduro attacked certain conditions to the transfer of power in Caracas.

Speaking to state-run Venezolana de Television, Maduro described, “I don’t like diplomacy with microphones; when there are important matters, they must be handled quietly until they are resolved!”

He further welcomed that the call may have been a step towards “respectful dialogue” and that Venezuela would always seek peace. But out of “prudence” and “respect” Maduro said he would not divulge further details of the call.

“With the favor of God and our Commander of Commanders, Our Lord Jesus Christ, everything will go well for the peace, independence, dignity, and future of Venezuela,” he said. Notably he did not confirm whether he was offered a safe exit by Trump or some kind of amnesty if he would relinquish rule of the country.

Meanwhile in Washington a bipartisan group of senators have reintroduced a War Powers Resolution designed to prevent Trump as commander-in-chief from unilaterally initiating military action against Venezuela without approval from Congress. 

By and large lawmakers have been missing in action, though there has been rising anger and questions on the over 20 deadly strikes on suspected drug boats. However, this has mostly focused on details of which precise orders Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth did or didn’t give.

The measure was brought forward by Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Adam Schiff (D-CA), the latter who also sponsored the earlier version. There was a new name added – Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) – as a co-sponsor.

There’s obviously some degree of urgency given Trump recently said land operations against cartels in Venezuela could start ‘very soon’. Kaine’s office said in a press release that the renewed resolution is privileged, meaning it can be brought to the Senate floor for a vote within 10 days.

Hope for last-minute diplomacy to avoid all-out military action to accomplish regime change?

President Maduro on his call with Trump:

“I received, I had a call and spoke with the President of the United States, Donald Trump.

I can say that the conversation was respectful in tone. I can even say it was cordial between the President of the United States and the… pic.twitter.com/j82IFqjYfI

— Camila (@camilapress) December 4, 2025

The previous resolution was narrowly defeated last month in a 49–51 vote. It was only two Republicans – Paul and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – who voted in favor. 

“The American people do not want to be dragged into endless war with Venezuela without public debate or a vote,” says Sen. Paul. “We ought to defend what the Constitution demands: deliberation before war.”

Via American Greatness,

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins says she will be moving to stop federal funding to 21 non-compliant states that have refused to provide data from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

In February, the Trump administration had asked all states to provide their SNAP data to the federal government as part of the administration’s efforts to root out waste and fraud in the welfare program.

29 mostly Republican-led states provided the data and revealed 500,000 cases of duplicate benefits as well as 186,000 deceased individuals’ Social Security numbers in use.

But 21 mostly Democrat-led states, including California, Minnesota and New York,  have dug in their heels and refused to provide the information, citing concerns over privacy.

Secretary Rollins told reporters that if a state refuses to share data on criminal use of SNAP benefits, “it won’t get a dollar of federal SNAP administrative funding.”

NO DATA, NO MONEY — it’s that simple.

If a state won’t share data on criminal use of SNAP benefits, it won’t get a dollar of federal SNAP administrative funding.

Let’s see which states stand for accountability and which are just protecting their bribery schemes. 🤔💸 pic.twitter.com/Y1UXXDOoao

— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) December 2, 2025

Rollins said that cooperation is needed from all states in order to root out fraud in the SNAP program and that action is impending for those states that refuse to provide names and immigration status of aid recipients.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Rollins said, “We asked for all the states for the first time to turn over their data to the federal government to let the USDA partner with them to root out this fraud, to make sure that those who really need food stamps are getting them, but also to ensure that the American taxpayer is protected.”

Rollins accused former president Joe Biden of trying to “buy an election” by ramping up food stamp funding by 40% last year.

Roughly 42 million recipients currently use SNAP benefits to help buy their groceries, at an annual cost to taxpayers of nearly $100 billion a year.

Dollar General shares jumped the most in six months following a quarterly earnings beat and an upward revision to full-year guidance, reflecting continued momentum from value-seeking, cash-strapped consumers.

Dollar General posted a strong quarter, with third-quarter EPS of $1.28, beating last year’s .89 cents and coming in well above the Bloomberg consensus estimate of .94 cents. Same-store sales rose 2.5%, also ahead of BBG expectations, driven entirely by higher traffic (+2.5%) while average ticket remained flat. Gains were broad-based across consumables, seasonal, home, and apparel.

Here’s a snapshot of the third quarter (courtesy of Bloomberg):

• EPS: $1.28 vs. $0.89 y/y, estimate $0.94

• Net sales: $10.65 billion, +4.6% y/y, estimate $10.62 billion

• Comparable sales: +2.5% vs. +1.3% y/y, estimate +2.47%

• Gross margin: 29.9% vs. 28.8% y/y, estimate 29.5%

• SG&A as % of revenue: 25.9% vs. 25.7% y/y, estimate 26.4%

• Operating profit: $425.9 million, +32% y/y, estimate $328.1 million

Dollar General also lifted its FY25 outlook:

• Sees comparable sales +2.5% to +2.7%, prior +2.1% to +2.6%, estimate +2.5% (Bloomberg consensus)

• Sees EPS $6.30 to $6.50, prior $5.80 to $6.30, estimate $6.12

• Sees net sales +4.7% to +4.9%, prior +4.3% to +4.8%

• Sees capital expenditure at the low end of $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion, unchanged, estimate $1.39 billion

• Still sees an effective tax rate of about 23.5%

In markets, DG shares surged nearly 11% – the biggest jump since early June. The stock had been down as much as 73% from its 2022 highs as high interest rates crushed lower-income consumer activity, but the rebound is now well underway. DG suddenly looks like a name to watch heading into next year. 

Goldman Sachs Managing Director Kate McShane is “Buy” rated on Dollar General with a 12-month price target of $126 … 

Here’s what other Wall Street analysts are saying: 

Bernstein, outperform (Zhihan Ma)

• This is another “strong beat and raise” from Dollar General, with gross margin outperformance (up 110bps y/y) the key driver amid shrink recovery, higher inventory markups, partly offset by LIFO charges 

• NOTE: “Shrink” in retail refers reduced inventory due to theft, damage or other causes of product loss before it is sold to the consumer

• Ma notes that comp. sales were “entirely led by traffic growth while ticket was flat”

• “We don’t expect outsized comp sales growth from DG, like what Five Below reported yesterday, as DG doesn’t benefit nearly as much from tariff-driven price increases or Temu’s pullback,” she says 

• For DG, she sees further gross margin recovery potential into FY26

• “Jury is still out on the retail media growth potential,” which she hasn’t assigned any value to

Bloomberg Intelligence, Jennifer Bartashus

• “Dollar General’s efforts to improve operations by executing well on retail basics like clean stores, in-stock levels and sufficient labor are gaining traction with core and higher- income trade-down shoppers,” though it remains to be seen whether those new customers will stick, Bartashus writes

• Gains in both consumable and discretionary categories in 3Q enabled the retailer to boost annual sales and profit forecasts

Jefferies (buy), Corey Tarlowe

• This is a “clean beat” on both top- and bottom-line, driven by better‑than‑expected margins and “steady traffic gains”

• Boosted guidance signals “confidence in holiday execution and continued market share gains across both departments”

• Inventory discipline is “notable”

• “Near term, the story strengthens on operational leverage and improved cost efficiency,” while longer term, “store growth and remodel productivity provide visibility into sustained EPS growth”

“The Company is raising its financial expectations for the year, primarily to reflect its outperformance in the third quarter, as well as its improved outlook for the remainder of the year, while also taking into consideration the potential for uncertainty related to consumer behavior,” Dollar General wrote in a press release.

Important to note: Dollar General’s customer base is primarily lower- to middle-income households that have been trapped in the K-shaped economy so far this year, still dealing with lingering woes from the Biden-Harris regime years. The third-quarter beat and rosier outlook suggest improvement within these cohorts as value-seeking consumers continue to trade down.

This previous earnings season revealed that consumers are aggressively hunting for deals:

TJ Maxx Hikes Outlook As Consumers Trade Down In Ominous Economic Signal

And there is good news for working-poor households heading into next year:

• As K-Shaped Consumer Breakdown Widens, Bessent Points To Brighter 2026

And Walmart remains the discount retailer consumers gravitate to most. 

By Michael Every of Rabobank

Markets start the day mixed. Bad US ADP jobs data saw the old rule that this is bullish for rates, so stocks. By contrast, Australian household spending of 1.3% m-o-m (regardless of how many it covers) saw rate hike bets pick up, with the 3-year yield above 4% for the first time since January. This morning, China also set the daily reference rate for CNY significantly weaker than expected, underlining its rule remains that its currency goes where it wants, not markets – and it doesn’t want it too strong even as its trade surplus reaches staggering dimensions.

But the rules are changing. The FT says hedge funds warned the White House about picking the head of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, as the next Fed Chair because he “will be swayed by Trump on interest rates.” As our US strategist Philip Marey notes in his 2026 Outlook, that’s exactly what we expect to happen. Moreover, as underlined here many times before, that’s potentially just part of the new central banking rules as economic statecraft wins, and technocracy loses. Indeed, Bloomberg reports Treasury Secretary Bessent is floated to replace Hassett at the top of the NEC, double hatting like Secretary of State Rubio. ‘Move fast and break things’ comes to mind.

Likewise, Brussels floated “emergency” powers to raise €210bn from frozen Russian assets as: NATO’s head pledged it’s “ready to do what it takes” to protect Europe – when it isn’t; the Telegraph warned ‘Trump may now abandon both Russia and Ukraine’ – as Rubio will skip the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting for the first time in 20 years and send a NATO sceptic instead; and talk is of ‘Europe’s race back to the draft’ as “Europe’s defence debate now centers on one blunt question: how many people can fight if they must?” – and “very few” is the clear answer.

The EC proposal is still de facto seizure of Russian assets with extra pledged protections for Belgium vs. Moscow’s retaliation and qualified majority voting under Article 122, allowing for ‘exceptional measures’ when the European economy is at risk, to block Hungarian or Slovakian vetoes. EU leaders will make a final decision on 18 December: if no deal can be struck, von der Leyen stated the EU will resort to joint debt issuance, as in Covid. Either way, rules are going to be broken, it seems.

Yesterday, Europe also broke more of its preferred free-market rules. It banned Russian LNG by end-2026 and pipeline gas by September 2027, with oil floated by end-2027; revived its China de-risking plans in an economic security package; threatened to use its Anti-Coercion Instrument vs. China; pushed a magnet recycling plan; and announced a target for 70% of ‘critical goods’ to be “made in Europe”. Make Europe Great Again?

But can Brussels focus as the rule of law comes down on it? Politico argues, ‘Fraud probe risks plunging EU into biggest crisis in decades’ and “People who don’t like von der Leyen will use this against her.” Euractiv says, ‘Welcome to the jungle: Raids, arrests, and a crisis of EU credibility’, and “As far-right parties hammer Brussels over corruption, the EU’s own investigators may be proving them right.” Reportedly, top Commission official Sannino is also taking early retirement amid this scandal. For those thinking maybe economic statecraft is a flag to rally round, Germany’s far left just saved Chancellor Merz from a potential humiliation on pensions by abstaining in a key vote. What if a real military draft or joint debt issuance has to be voted on in Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Rome, etc.?

For the UK, this is tricky given Labor leans towards Europe, with suggestions it might consider a rule-breaking push to re-enter the Customs Union. Yet the EU’s new stance means the UK couldn’t supply most critical goods on top of limiting its ability to trade freely with the US, the Anglosphere, Japan, or South Korea, etc., unless/until a higher tariff pan-Western trade umbrella is eventually raised vs. China (which we see as the broad Trump plan). Grand macro strategy is hard when you don’t know you are in it.

At the macro level, some rule changes are the rule. In the UK, the OBR, stuck in a scandal, says billions in green energy subsidies were excluded from the recent, controversial Budget, as Chancellor Reeves has ordered a Treasury inquiry over leaks about it. (Not the officially sanctioned ones.)

In China, Shanghai launched a clampdown on “property market doom-mongering,” with up to internet 70,000 accounts shut down. That’s after the government reportedly told two private data agencies to withhold monthly home sales data for November, and until further notice. There are questions over when we will see those series return: presumably when sales are going up… which could be some time. Yet neither this nor the news that Chinese AI and big data are officially to guard against Western values and promote socialism will shake the market rule that says China is very investable vs. the previous “uninvestable.” THAT isn’t made by portfolio managers or analysts, but the MSCI equity index review process. Until one day it isn’t.

In the US, Axios reports the White House response to political and economic pressures is to double down on “ultra-MAGA”. As a new example, car fuel efficiency standards are to be relaxed to try to bring down vehicle prices, after floated changes in health insurance and mortgages.

Part of that will also be a White House focus on robotics to match that on AI, mirroring China. Yet how that eases MAGA voters’ concerns over looming job losses is unclear, unless robots first replace the millions of workers Trump wants to deport? Logically, labor costs don’t have to rise if so – and yet that again wouldn’t please many voters either. Mirroring rule breaking because of cost pressures and potential geopolitical emergencies also sees the Pentagon deploying a new, cheap kamikaze drone directly copied from an Iranian design, the Shaheed (as used by Russia vs. Ukraine, and which was unwittingly developed in part by British universities, “because markets”).

Ultra-MAGA also seems OK with its rule change towards backing regime change in Venezuela, as the Telegraph claims Maduro’s ‘terms of surrender’ were unacceptable to Trump: a blanket amnesty for himself and top officials as well as $200m. However, there rumours fly of a looming Maduro exit to various global locations, including Qatar. For its part, China is seen as unlikely to aid Venezuela: its experts reportedly think a Trump takeover could benefit Beijing if ‘spheres of influence’ come back into vogue, which obviously brings Taiwan into the mix again.

To come full circle, once spheres of influence are brought into the debate, and they are, the underlying emergency in Europe is even clearer. It doesn’t have one – it IS one.

If so, many more rules are going to be broken; either that or comfortable delusions will be. Remember:

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY BREAK RULES

In a development that is not entirely surprising, European leaders are claiming that Washington is looking to “betray” Ukraine and President Zelensky during potential formal peace negotiations with Russia. “There is a possibility that the United States will abandon Ukraine on territorial questions without providing clarity on security guarantees,” French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly said according to a “leaked” phone call record with other European leaders.

Likely this was an intentional leak and bit of strong signaling to the Trump administration, as Europe has not been on board with the US President’s proposed peace plan from the start. “There is a possibility that the US will betray Ukraine on the issue of territory without clarity on security guarantees,” Macron continued. He laid his view that there was “a great danger” for Zelensky. However, Macron’s office has subsequently sought to clarify that “The president did not use those words.”

The leaked transcript of the call between European leaders strategizing about how to protect the Zelensky government and Kiev’s interests was published Thursday by the German magazine Der Spiegel.

Also reportedly on the line engaged in the conversation were German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and of course Zelensky as well.

Merz had in the dialogue agreed that Zelensky should be “extremely careful in the coming days” and warned the Ukrainian leader that “they are playing games with you and with us.”

Finland’s President Stubb followed with, “We must not leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these people” – after NATO Secretary General Rutte chimed in: “I agree with Alexander. We must protect Volodymyr.” The underlying assumption seems to be that Zelensky is in a weak position and is being bullied by the more powerful US officials who have leverage.

The context to this part of the conversation is particularly interesting, given it seems to focus on Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who were just in Moscow meeting with Putin, and are spearheading efforts to get the Trump 28-point peace plan (or 19-points based on reports of a revised version) past the goal line. Politico presents the section of the transcript as follows: 

Finland’s Stubb seemed to agree with Merz, according to the transcript. “We cannot leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these guys,” he said, apparently referring to Witkoff and Kushner, which attracted agreement from Rutte. 

“I agree with Alexander — we must protect Volodymyr [Zelenskyy],” the NATO chief said. NATO declined to comment when reached by POLITICO.

Der Spiegel admits in its report that “These and other statements reproduced in the notes of the conversation illustrate the Europeans’ deep distrust of the two Trump confidants.” Michael Weiss, who was one of the report’s co-authors, framed all of this as focused on countering “American dirty tricks to the end war.“

One aspect to the conversation was the leaders found agreement on the issue of frozen Russian assets kept in EU banks, which they consider a purely European prerogative, amid recent reports the US is ready to return these to Moscow as part of a finalized Ukraine peace deal.

Washington efforts to quickly achieve peace by seriously engaging both sides are likened to “dirty tricks”?…

New at @derspiegel: We obtained the transcript of a conference call of top European leaders and Volodymyr Zelensky, warning of American dirty tricks to the end war.

Emmanuel Macron said there’s a chance the U.S. will “betray” Ukraine on territory.

Friedrich Merz said: “They… pic.twitter.com/BjvzKPTw52

— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) December 4, 2025

Zelensky’s office has meanwhile neither conformed nor denied the accuracy of the leaked transcript. An unnamed Ukrainian diplomat did respond as follows when probed by Politico: “In general, only the Russians benefit from any splits between Europe and America, so our consistent position is that transatlantic unity must be maintained.”

But the reality is that Zelensky has constantly pushed back against the idea of forging a peace without direct Ukrainian oversight and input. He has also consistently refused territorial concession, and his European backers have also balked at this key part of the Trump plan. The Kremlin is currently insisting that its control over the Donbass and Crimea not be just deemed de facto – but it wants full international and Ukrainian legal recognition that these territories are under the Russian Federation.

The relationship between the OpenAI cofounders, Sam Altman and Elon Musk, has devolved into X sparring and legal battles. As the conversation surrounding data center shifts to space, a new report specifies that Altman attempted to acquire a rocket company to compete with Musk’s SpaceX.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Altman explored acquiring or partnering with rocket startup Stoke Space. This move would’ve put him in direct competition with SpaceX, only suggesting the rivalry between the two billionaires has no limits.

Those familiar with the Altman-Stoke Space talks said those discussions to invest billions and take a controlling stake were over the summer and have since ended.

WSJ’s report comes days after OpenAI declared “code red,” telling employees that ChatGPT needs significant improvement in user experience, including personalization, speed, reliability, and the ability to answer a broader range of questions.

In the companywide memo, Altman also said that OpenAI would be pushing back work on other initiatives, including advertising, AI agents for health and shopping, and a personal assistant called Pulse.

A separate report from Financial Times showed that OpenAI rivals from Google and Anthropic are quickly catching up in terms of features and popularity…

Altman’s space ambitions come as Musk recently laid out his vision of humanoid robots, as well as AI data centers in low Earth orbit.

The lowest cost place for data centers is space when 300 GW of computer data center you can power and cool in space when you have continuous solar and no batteries needed. @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/J5EMJt8rRw

— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) November 19, 2025

Jeff Bezos has also recognized the need for data centers in space. Also, Bezos has the rocket company Blue Origin

Jeff Bezos plans to build a data center in space within the next 10+ years.

Unlimited solar energy available 24/7, space is an ideal location for data centers.$AMZN AWS is set to make major moves out there. pic.twitter.com/KJCEO973eQ

— Bourbon Capital (@BourbonCap) October 3, 2025

Given the “code red” memo Altman sent to staff earlier this week, perhaps the ChatGPT billionaire should focus on achieving AGI and keeping the AI bubble alive (read report) into next year, rather than overextending, and let Musk and Bezos figure out data centers in space with their rocket companies doing the heavy lifting.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent delivered a brutal takedown of legacy media frauds Wednesday, calling out The New York Times for their shameless double standard on presidential fitness.

Fresh off a three-hour cabinet marathon with President Trump, Bessent faced down a Times hack at their own summit and laid bare the hypocrisy. The same outlet that buried Joe Biden’s dementia for years now peddles baseless panic about Trump’s vigor.

It’s the latest desperate ploy from a press corps still seething over their 2024 election wipeout, desperate to undermine a leader who’s delivering on all fronts.

? BREAKING: In a mic drop moment, Sec. Scott Bessent just PUMMELED the NYT to their faces for a HUGE double standard on Donald Trump’s health

“WHERE was the New York Times? We just had a 3 hour cabinet meeting yesterday!”

“For 10 MONTHS Biden did not have a cabinet meeting.… pic.twitter.com/HyPWjPWFUF

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 3, 2025

The fireworks erupted Tuesday at the NYT’s glitzy DealBook Summit, where Bessent squared off against financial columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin. Sorkin, parroting his paper’s latest hit piece “Signs of Fatigue: Trump Faces Realities Of Aging in Office”, tried to corner Bessent on Trump’s supposed “mental decline” and reduced visibility. Big mistake. Bessent didn’t flinch—he fact-checked the fraud live on stage.

“You had what was one of the greatest scandals of all time, that the coverage of the Biden administration, Joe Biden’s diminished capacity, and the cover up. And that’s why it’s probably fair to raise these questions. Where was the New York Times? We just had a three-hour cabinet meeting yesterday, Andrew.”

He didn’t stop there, dismantling the 25th Amendment fever dreams, noting “For ten months, the Biden administration did not have a cabinet meeting… How are you going to invoke the 25th Amendment if the cabinet secretaries never see the president, which they didn’t?”

“I hear from people in the Treasury Building that I see President Trump more in a day than my predecessor saw Joe Biden in half a year!” Bessent urged while Sorkin squirmed, mumbling about “fair questions.”

Post-summit, Bessent doubled down in a further interview, admitting the Times’ lies hit him like a freight train. He couldn’t let it slide—not when the “paper of record” was torching its own credibility in real time.

“He immediately went into attack and gotcha mode! I couldn’t take the hypocrisy,” Bessent declared.

? NOW: Scott Bessent says he COULDN’T TAKE the New York Times lying to his face on stage – “So I just had to fact-check him!”

“He immediately went into attack and gotcha mode! I couldn’t take the HYPOCRISY.” ?

“He just played to the audience…the NYT are so far from the… https://t.co/i1IGBfZFWp pic.twitter.com/nNMnLDNZvD

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 4, 2025

“He just played to the audience…the NYT are so far from the truth,” Bessent continued, noting “How are people gonna construct the narrative of this second Trump presidency when the supposed ‘paper of record’ is so far off?!”

Bessent also described Trump’s unbreakable stamina, relating “He’ll call me, ‘Scott, I didn’t wake you, did I?’ No, sir, I’m always awake at 1:52AM on a Tuesday!”

He added, “We did the trip to Alaska. We did a round trip one day, and we arrived back…our batteries are out. We land at Andrews, and the president’s like, ‘oh, it’s morning in Europe now.’ I think we had spent probably 20 hours in the air in Alaska. And he said, ‘let’s start making phone calls and call the European leaders!’ So we had to sit on the tarmac for two more hours while he made phone calls!”

? JUST IN: Scott Bessent PUMMELS the media for latching on to the theory that Donald Trump’s health is “deteriorating”

“He’ll call me, ‘Scott, I didn’t wake you, did I?’ No, sir, I’m always awake at 1:52AM on a Tuesday!” ?

“We did the trip to Alaska. We did a round trip one… pic.twitter.com/4dwZnCXtLM

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 4, 2025

“He never stops working for the American people. And it’s incredible,” Bessent urged.

Democrats and their media allies spent four years gaslighting the nation about Biden’s “sharp as a tack” facade, even as he shuffled through pressers like a man who’d lost his mind.

Now, with Trump back in the Oval Office acing cognitive tests and grinding 20-hour days, the smears fly: fatigue, decline, 25th Amendment whispers.

Trump himself torched the “crazy lunatics” in the press room, ranting: “I sit here and do four news conferences, I answer questions from very intelligent lunatics– you people.”

He mocked their flip, noting “You always find something new. Like, ‘Is he in good health? Biden was great, but is Trump in good health?!’ YOU PEOPLE ARE CRAZY!”

White House doctors backed him up with October MRI results showing “perfectly normal” cardiovascular health—no abnormalities for a 79-year-old. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt hammered it home, noting Trump’s “the most accessible president in history,” spotted “almost every single day.” Meanwhile, Biden’s crew dodged press for eight months straight, peddling “cheap fakes” excuses for his vacant stares.

CNN’s Scott Jennings piled on, nailing the Democrats’ gall in a viral clip. “It’s astonishing, frankly, that Democrats have the gall to push conspiracies about President Trump’s health after the Biden cover-up. Sorry to disappoint Democrats, but I was in the Oval Office recently — there is nothing wrong with this man,” Jennings stressed.

“This is an attempt to create a narrative that doesn’t exist because Democrats are so butthurt living through the White House claiming Biden was fine,” Jennings asserted, adding “They want to transfer that to Trump.”

It’s astonishing, frankly, that Democrats have the gall to push conspiracies about President Trump’s health after the Biden cover-up.

Sorry to disappoint Democrats, but I was in the Oval Office recently — there is nothing wrong with this man. pic.twitter.com/kByIPFS8R9

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) December 2, 2025

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With the spice flowing once again (post shutdown), initial jobless claims continue to signal no labor market pain at all… plummeting last week to 191k (the lowest since Sept 2022 and before that the lowest since 1969!!)

Distortions around Thanksgiving likely skewed the reading, with California, Texas, and New York saw the largest drop in non-seasonally adjusted claims.

It appears a lack of government firings is helping as the ‘Deep Tristate’ initial claims tumbled to its lowest since Nov 2024…

This lack of firing comes as ADP reports the biggest manufacturing sector job losses since COVID and Challenger, Gray & Christmas reports U.S.-based employers announced 71,321 job cuts in November, up 24% from the 57,727 job cuts announced in the same month last year.

“Layoff plans fell last month, certainly a positive sign. That said, job cuts in November have risen above 70,000 only twice since 2008: in 2022 and in 2008,” said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Continuing jobless claims continue to oscillate just above the 1.9 million Maginot Line…

Yet another alternative labor market signal points to weakness (more in line with ADP’s job losses) as Revelio shows 9k job losses in November…

Hiring Plans Plummet

Through November, global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reports that U.S. employers have announced 497,151 planned hires, down 35% from the 761,954 announced at this point in 2024.

It is the lowest year-to-date total since 2010…

WARNing

Additionally, WARN notices, which have previously led unemployment claims, are rising again.

As Bloomberg’s Simon White notes, The WARN Act obliges employers with more than 100 full-time workers to provide written notice to the state and the workers themselves at least 60-90 days ahead of planned plant closings and mass layoffs. It is one of the best real-time reads on the labor market, and has remained very low and steady, around an average of 220-230k, over the past two years.

As the chart below shows, WARN notices has led previous rises in claims. It has also given some false positives, but given the likely impact on yields should we see a sudden deterioration in employment, the recent rise is notable.

That the slowing in the jobs market is set to gather pace is captured in other indicators.

The NFIB small business survey polls respondents on whether they think the single most important problem they face is poor sales.

That has been rising, which often precedes the unemployment rate. Small businesses employ about half the workforce in the US and given the plunge in small business jobs reported by ADP yesterday, it seems labor market pains are starting to accelerate under the surface.

In short – the labor market remains a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma with every indicator pointing in different directions – choose your own adventure.