Within a progressive controlled nation, who gets punished by the law is greatly dependent on their political and ethnic affiliations.  Left leaning groups (and people like migrants who are useful to left leaning groups) enjoy a separate set of legal standards compared to people who oppose leftist ideology.  This has become a clear trend within the UK in recent years.

This two tier legal system helps the encourage future crimes by leftists and their allies while the hammer is brought down on conservatives and patriots to ensure they are fearful of stepping out of line in the slightest.  

This double standard is obvious once again in the recent acquittal of three Just Stop Oil activists who made headlines after they spraying down the historic site of Stonehenge with a mixture of powder and orange dye.  The dye cost around $1000 to clean but luckily did not leave lasting damage.  The stunt was allegedly designed to draw attention to JSO’s climate change agenda.

BREAKING:

British court clears “Just Stop Oil” activists of all criminal charges for vandalizing Stonehenge last year

The judge stressed that people have a right to protest in a democracy even if others dislike it. The defense argued it was necessary due to the climate crisis pic.twitter.com/BGMqKaS7e8

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) November 1, 2025

The activists, Rajan Naidu, Niamh Lynch and Luke Watson have been found not guilty this week of criminal damage and causing a public nuisance.  The suspects cited human rights law in their defense, arguing that they had a “reasonable excuse”, and they they are protected under Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights to freedom of speech and freedom to protest.

The judge emphasized that democratic protest rights can sometimes render otherwise unlawful actions lawful, even if disruptive.  In other words, suspects who commit a clear crime (such as vandalizing an ancient heritage site) will not be punished as long as they support causes that the current government agrees with.  UK patriots, on the other hand, will still get years in prison for posting memes on social media that are critical of mass immigration.

Just Stop Oil’s insanity was rampant across Europe over the course of the last few year until the group disbanded on the grounds that they had been “victorious” in achieving their primary goal (did they beat climate change?).  However, it is more likely they disbanded because of rising public anger over their disruptive tactics. 

The Met Police did actual well dealing with Just Stop Oil protesters leading up to the coronation. Where are they now!?

It’s no wonder that these angry motorists felt that they had to take matters into their own hands.

pic.twitter.com/OC0GudOFy8

— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) May 16, 2023

Despite the fact that the group received extensive protections from various European governments, they could not predict the responses of common citizens who were fed up with their antics.  Sweeping popular sentiment supported beatings of activists who blocked roadways and who destroyed priceless works of art. 

Just Stop Oil’s methods seemed to focus less on actual climate change issues and more on using climate change as an excuse to attack monuments and artworks important to western civilization.  Suspicions that the group is less about global warming and more about communist deconstruction abound.   They even tried to destroy an original copy of the Magna Carta.

Those protesters have yet to go to trial, but they are using a similar defense argument to the Stonehenge activists.

Judge Paul Dugdale told the jury in his legal directions they had to assess where the “balance lies” in the case and whether a conviction would be a “proportionate interference” with the defendants’ rights (coaching the jury).

“If individuals disagree with what our government is doing on certain matters, they are entitled to protest about the government’s actions or inactions…All of this is the essence of our free society. It’s how our society has developed over the centuries, and the reality is we are very fortunate to live in a free society.”  

The hypocrisy of this statement cannot be quantified.  Thousands of British citizens are being censored and arrested for speaking out peacefully against third-world immigration policies (without vandalizing any monuments) – There is no “free society” unless one is progressive in their ideology.  The message from UK courts in cases like this is disturbing; they are letting leftists know that they have free rein to do as they please, which means other incidents like Stonehenge are inevitable.  

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

China is buying itself breathing space in the trade dispute with the U.S. by primarily flexing its elbow against the EU. With its dominance in rare earths and Germany’s import dependence on microchips, Beijing currently holds the upper hand. Germany and the EU would be well advised to recall market-oriented virtues and strategic intelligence.

Two seemingly unrelated events reflect the same problem: A week ago, Volkswagen threatened a complete production halt should China ban exports of urgently needed rare earths. The media reacted with shock. Suddenly, the specter of Germany’s resource dependence on China returned.

A few weeks earlier, a bizarre economic dispute erupted in the Netherlands. On September 30, the Dutch government decreed state control over Dutch-Chinese chipmaker Nexperia, sparking a genuine diplomatic row with Beijing. The concern: potential relocation of production facilities to China and the loss of technological know-how in chip manufacturing.

Deep-rooted Dependence

Both events describe quite precisely the situation, especially for German industry. Deeply intertwined with Chinese value chains, it now risks falling victim to geopolitical conflicts. While Chancellor Angela Merkel’s tenure gradually helped diversify export markets like the U.S. or France faster than China, Germany’s so-called de-risking strategy has not prevented roughly one million German jobs from remaining directly dependent on exports to China. Last year, Germany exported goods worth about €90 billion to China. One in every nine export products heads to the People’s Republic, particularly high-tech products and automobiles.

China also remains Germany’s largest import partner with €156 billion in goods. Germany’s chip dependence on China is particularly concerning: 25% of German companies source semiconductors directly from China; in 2024, China was the top supplier, ahead of the U.S. and Taiwan. Across more than 230 product categories, including almost the entire spectrum of electronics and semiconductors, Chinese goods made up at least half of German imports.

German – and European – industry is deeply entangled in a web of market and supply chain dependencies that are increasingly difficult, and fragile, to manage geopolitically.

The Wind Has Turned 

For decades, Germany followed a quasi-mercantilist trade model. Benefiting from a domestic low-wage sector, cheap Russian gas, and a relatively undervalued euro from a productivity standpoint, German industry easily secured growing shares in key sectors like automotive and machinery on the global market.

Now, with the geopolitical wind having shifted, it becomes clear that the German-Chinese trade partnership risks being shredded amid the storms of the Russia conflict and the U.S.-China trade war.

And Beijing, once pressured, does not shy from heavy-handed tactics. Current debates reflect complaints from German companies that rare earths are only supplied in exchange for the disclosure of trade secrets, client lists, and other sensitive information. This is not a quid pro quo; this is cold-blooded extortion, more than a mere show of power.

China’s leadership plays hard, driven by its own economic problems such as high youth unemployment and persistent deflation, which it tries to solve via its heavily inflated export sector. China keeps its export engine running at full throttle through subsidies, pushing foreign manufacturers out of the domestic market.

The Chinese power mosaic is only fully understood once we have clearer insight into how industry-hostile NGOs in Europe and North America, backed by China, operate. They helped sow the anti-industrial CO2 climate narrative, escalated attacks on German automotive manufacturing, and simultaneously flooded artificially created climate markets with Chinese solutions.

EU Self-Help Group

Rarely does it seem that Brussels—and by extension Berlin—act with sufficient vigor, strategic depth, or analytical understanding to seek escape routes from this stranglehold. Too much time, energy, and strategic potential are wasted on EU internal hygiene. No one tackles the frontline issues arising from dependence on China. The economic threat, especially in rare earths, is increasingly visible and leveraged by Beijing as a geopolitical tool. Up to 90% of refining capacities for rare earths are under Chinese control—a heavy bargaining chip when negotiations with China get tough.

Attempts at Breakout 

There is, at least, awareness of the problem. The previous government tried to attract U.S. chipmaker Intel to Magdeburg with a €10 billion subsidy package to improve supply chains prospectively. Intel, however, declined despite the billions—a devastating verdict on Germany’s economic landscape.

What a catastrophic admission for Europeans, trapped in their own regulatory web and energy-policy disaster. Intel prefers investing domestically, where President Trump provides competitive conditions and, in effect, sucks investment away from Europe. Europe stands in its own way, failing to stabilize or deepen its value chains.

The EU’s attempt, coordinated with national policies, to build a quasi-war economy alongside the heavily subsidized climate complex—a failed energy liberation effort—must be seen as an act of desperation. Without China’s intermediate goods for microchips, rare earths, raw materials, and previously Russian energy, this production buildup will likely remain a vision.

The consequence of European paralysis: essential industrial foundations—from raw materials to high-tech end products in electronics and machinery—are crumbling before our eyes due to the energy crisis. It is almost impossible to scale these product groups competitively in Europe, especially Germany.

Emancipation Requires Germany 

At this historical moment, with the Ukraine conflict further fracturing geopolitical power lines, Europe’s fragility is visible. Its energy dependence and resource scarcity weaken its negotiating position.

The trade deal—effectively a submission to Washington’s dictate—fits perfectly into this picture: China, the U.S., and other global players know Europe’s Achilles’ heel and increasingly target its energy dilemma, worsened by the exit from nuclear and coal, and the end of Russian gas imports, particularly in Germany.

It would be in the interest of all Europeans if Germany took the lead, forcing an end to the counterproductive climate doctrine. A commitment to national sovereignty and market-oriented reasoning, embedded in a competitive EU single market, could revive Europe’s strength. The continent is still technologically capable of catching up and activating its strong capital base.

Here lies Europe’s geopolitical leverage. A “Great Reset” is indispensable: liberation from Kafkaesque bureaucracy, lower taxes, and a market-based energy design—a cold detox ending the paralyzing climate dialogues that have infantilized complex economic realities.

Cold Detox Unavoidable 

Harsh as it may be, Germany—and the EU—must pivot 180 degrees to regain attractiveness as an investment location. Capital clearly prefers Trump’s deregulatory U.S.

Geopolitically, Europe should aim to exploit Canadian resources—a first step in the right direction. Debates about Greenland’s rare earths should also accelerate. Yet exploration and actual development will take years. Pressure on German and European manufacturers is already rising; negotiation solutions and better political involvement are urgently needed.

Aligning geopolitically with Washington to resist Beijing’s extortion attempts is sensible. President Trump is actively building a parallel supply network for industry, securing raw materials with contracts in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Japan—the impressive result of only 72 hours of foreign diplomacy.

Merz Stays Passive 

The German chancellor, in contrast, remains aloof from this arena, leaving it to Ursula von der Leyen’s EU Commission. The Commission offers no visible initiatives beyond a cosmetic European rare earth recycling program. No action gives industry the breathing room it urgently needs. While Washington circles the globe, Berlin appears frozen in bureaucratic stasis.

We are witnessing the return of power politics on the global stage of superpowers, the U.S. and China. Europe’s role remains uncertain, but its geopolitical loss is evident. Von der Leyen, Merz, Macron, and Starmer must accept that the era of artistic climate dialogues and trivial feel-good events like COP30 in Brazil is over.

* * * 

About the author: Thomas Kolbe, a German graduate economist, has worked for over 25 years as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.

While the US-EU establishment continues to tell us Ukraine must be defended against Russia at all costs, legions of the country’s young men are abandoning the country — dreading the prospect of being thrown into the West’s proxy-war meat-grinder, and convinced their best future lies somewhere else. Last week, the Telegraph reported that nearly 100,000 Ukrainian men between 18 and 22 have left in the past two months — a force well larger than the 70,000 soldiers in then entire UK army.  

The surge springs from Ukraine’s recent relaxation of wartime restrictions on foreign travel by the country’s men. Effective August 22, men between 18 and 22 are now allowed to leave Ukraine. Many are choosing to do something much more ambitious than a weekend getaway, instead applying for asylum or other forms of protection in various European countries, where they’re taking up residence and looking for employment. According to German TV outlet DW, one of their top choices is increasingly Germany, where the weekly pace of arrivals by young men has grown from a relative trickle of 100 into a torrent of 1,000. 

These 18- to 22-year-olds are not draft-dodgers. In a sharp difference with the philosophy of the United States and other countries, the Ukrainian military is barred from drafting men below age 25; voluntary service starts at 18. However, the specter of conscription is a decision factor for many of those leaving the country. Under current rules, once a man turns 23, he can’t leave the country. “At 23 or 24, you’re in a sort of buffer zone,” Serhiy, a 22-year-old originally from the Donbas, told DW. “You can’t just go abroad, but you’re not hiding either; meanwhile, army call-up is getting closer and closer.”

Some men in the 18- to 22-year-old set fear the draft age will be lowered. That’s already happened once during the war with Russia: In April 2024, the minimum draft age was lowered from 27 to the current 25. The Biden administration urged Ukraine to lower it to 18, and other US officials have since pushed the country to lower the conscription age below 25, including hawks like Sen. Lindsey Graham and UN ambassador Mike Waltz. 

That prospect weighed heavily on Viktor, an 18-year-old who left a town south of Kiev in August and arrived in Berlin with his girlfriend. “I read reports that said the age of conscription might be lowered,” he told DW. “In our country all sorts of laws could be passed, including that you can be conscripted as young as 18.”

🇺🇦 Conscription in Ukraine.

Imagine telling your family you are going out for an evening walk, just to never return. Kidnapped and sent to dіе because Zelensky says so. pic.twitter.com/DbGdBUlOmu

— Spetsnaℤ 007 🇷🇺 (@Alex_Oloyede2) October 20, 2025

Twenty-year-old Maksym, who arrived in Berlin from Kiev with the initial goal of finding an electrical engineering or other apprenticeship, was positively exuberant as he spoke to DW on Alexanderplatz. “I’m completely overwhelmed!” he said. “I’m incredibly happy, because I clearly see that this is my ticket to the future.”

While Maksym is jubilant, there’s growing agitation over the influx of young Ukrainian men into Germany and other countries. Many politicians point to the disconnect between European countries sacrificing their own economies to impede Russia’s conquest of the Donbas — while taking on waves of Ukrainian refugees who absorb benefits and compete with locals for jobs — and the spectacle of military-age men abandoning Ukraine in huge numbers.

“The EU and Berlin must influence Ukraine to change the relaxed exit rules,” Markus Söder, Prime Minister of the German state of Bavaria, said last month. “It won’t help anyone if more and more young men from Ukraine come to Germany instead of defending their homeland.” Similarly, last week Poland’s Confederation party said, “Poland cannot continue to be a refuge for thousands of men who should be defending their own country, while burdening Polish taxpayers with the costs of their desertion.”

Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,

Six in ten long-term unemployed people in Belgium are of foreign origin, according to newly released government figures, just as a major reform of the unemployment system is set to take effect.

The data, disclosed by Employment Minister David Clarinval in response to a parliamentary question, show that only 41.5 percent of unemployment benefit recipients in 2023 had Belgian parents.

As reported by 7sur7, nearly 13 percent of the unemployed population has North African roots, primarily from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, or Mauritania. A further fifth have origins in other European Union member states, including neighboring and southern European countries.

The figures confirm a long-standing pattern observed in earlier studies: employment rates are lowest among foreigners from outside the EU.

In total, Belgium’s long-term unemployed population consists of 41.5 percent Belgians, 12.8 percent with Maghreb origins, 9.2 percent from southern EU countries, 7.7 percent from neighboring countries, 4.5 percent from other Asian countries, 4.5 percent of unknown origin, 4.2 percent from other African countries, 3.9 percent from Turkey, 3.8 percent from other European countries outside the EU, 3.4 percent from eastern EU countries, 3.1 percent from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, or Rwanda, and 1.2 percent from South or Central America. Taken together, those of non-EU origin account for roughly one third of all unemployed people in Belgium, and possibly closer to 38 percent when including those whose origin is listed as unknown.

“These figures confirm what we already knew,” Stijn Baert, professor of labor economics at Ghent University, told the Belgian news outlet.

“When we focus on migrants from countries outside the European Union, Belgium almost always ranks among the worst performers in Europe. More than half of unemployed non-European foreigners have been out of work for more than a year. Only Greece performs worse.”

The release of these figures coincides with a far-reaching reform of the unemployment system that will, from January 2026, abolish the right to indefinite benefits. Under the new rules, most people under 55 will be entitled to unemployment benefits for a maximum of two years, while those over 55 can continue to receive them only if they have accumulated at least 30 years of professional experience, rising to 35 years by 2030. The National Employment Office has already begun notifying affected claimants, with the first wave of exclusions — around 10,700 people — expected early next year. More than 100,000 people will eventually lose their entitlements.

Employment Minister David Clarinval, a Liberal, defended the reform as necessary to restore fairness and encourage people to re-enter the labor market. “Unemployment is not a career plan,” he said. “The main message is that everyone must work, including people of foreign origin. There is no reason why these people should be condemned to unemployment and exclusion.”

Speaking on RTL’s morning program on Wednesday, Clarinval said, “More than one in two unemployed people who will be excluded from benefits in the coming year and the year after are of foreign origin. That’s a rather astonishing figure, as far as I’m concerned.”

Clarinval said the numbers raised questions about both oversight and support. “Do all these people actually reside within the country?” he asked, noting that 5,800 cases of home fraud were detected last year. “That applies to everyone, but it means there are undoubtedly more checks to be carried out. Although now that we’re going to limit them, the question won’t really arise anymore.”

The publication of the figures provoked sharp political debate after several Belgian media outlets reported that “six out of ten people to lose their benefits are not Belgian.” Socialist MPs accused the government of stigmatizing people of immigrant background, prompting multiple fact-checks clarifying that the data refers to origin, not nationality. Many of those included in the figures were either born in Belgium to non-Belgian parents or have since acquired Belgian citizenship through naturalization.

Read more here…

One day before Halloween (perhaps he would have been better served to wait a few hours for give it a spookier, Oct 31 post date), the “Big Short” Michael Burry emerged from his periodic X/Twitter hibernation, where he tends to nuke his account every so often, only to reemerge several months later, with a cryptic post in which he references both the classic movie WarGames, and the movie Big Short (in which Christian Bale plays him). It said “Sometimes, we see bubbles. Sometimes, there is something to do about it. Sometimes, the only winning move is not to play.“

Sometimes, we see bubbles.
Sometimes, there is something to do about it.
Sometimes, the only winning move is not to play. pic.twitter.com/xNBSvjGgvs

— Cassandra Unchained (@michaeljburry) October 31, 2025

He followed it up with another post earlier today, which hinted that – as Goldman first did last summer – the return on AI was just too little, and like the early days of the dot com bubble when there was a massive overspending on fiber capex, so too many of the leading companies of the current AI bubble would crash and burn.

Move along pic.twitter.com/ysPWozmnbt

— Cassandra Unchained (@michaeljburry) November 3, 2025

And then something interesting happened: Burry’s Scion Asset Management published its 13F some two weeks early, and revealed that Burry not only sees a bubble, but is doing something about it. 

Half of the 13F was boring: mostly small legacy positions including Bruker, Lululemon (which has suffered a spectacular collapse this year), as well as SLM and Molina Healthcare. 

However, the other half was interesting, first – because it was entirely in the form of puts and calls, and second – because the puts were for Palantir and Nvidia, the two companies that define the AI bubble. And not any puts, but very large puts (for Burry’s AUM) – the notional equivalent value for the Palantir puts was a whopping $912 million (equivalent to 5mm shares), while his Nvidia Put was worth a notional equivalent $186 million.

Unfortunately, we don’t know either how much premium Burry actually paid or the actual terms of the puts including strike price and maturity.

All we know is that Burry appears to once again be swinging for the bubble fences, similar to what he did during the housing bubble, and is shorting the two names that are most synonymous with the current market mania, similar to what he did in 2008 when he was shorting housing using CDS. 

We also know that since both names are sharply higher than where they were on Sept 30 (the date of the 13F), Burry has already suffered substantial losses on his positions, assuming he hasn’t already liquidated them (at a loss).

And while some will declare that Burry putting his money where his bubble-bursting mouth is, is a sign of the top, we have two words of caution: back in 2005, Burry was early by about 2 years, and even though he ultimately got the trade right, the carry on the CDS crushed him. 

Second, the last time Burry tried to top tick the market was January 2023 when he blasted the one-word “Sell.”

The market is up 69% since then. 

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has reiterated in fresh weekend comments to state media that the Islamic Republic is not seeking to build a nuclear weapons; however, he did say something sure to catch the attention the United States and Israel.

He asserted that Tehran will rebuild its nuclear facilities “with greater strength” following the US bombing of three nuclear complexes during the June war with Israel. “Destroying buildings and factories will not create a problem for us, we will rebuild and with greater strength,” the Iranian president stated.

The defiant warning to the world is important as President Trump has in the recent past said he’s willing to attack Iran again should it try and restart its nuclear facilities which were bombed in June.

Pezeshkian had made the comments during a visit to Iran’s own Atomic Energy Organization. He met with top officials who will be presumably tasked with rebuilding and repairing Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.

The White House has repeatedly boasted of having “obliterated” Tehran’s ability to make the next big step toward an operational nuclear weapon. Tehran has always insisted its program is purely for domestic nuclear energy purposes, and the Ayatollah over the years has decried nukes as ‘unIslamic’.

President Pezeshkian on Sunday stressed Iran’s nuclear plans are designed to “meet the essential needs of the people and enhance national welfare.” Interestingly he also signaled expanse of nuclear plants with the help of Russia.

There have been reports of renewed and stepped up activity at Iran’s nuclear facilities of late. According to Newsweek:

Satellite imagery published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank last month showed renewed activity at its nuclear facilities.

Iran is not actively enriching uranium, but fresh movement has been detected at its nuclear sites, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, said on October 29.

Iran still has hold of uranium enriched at 60 percent, and it is “very, very important” for international investigators to work out how it’s being used, Grossi told The Associated Press last week. Tehran could build as many as 10 nuclear bombs with its stockpile, should it take the step to weaponizing the material, he said.

Given the chances there could be another round of direct fighting between archenemies Israel and Iran, the Iranians could now be more willing to secretly pursue nuclear warheads.

After all, a number of governments which did not have nuclear or other significant WMD capability have been toppled over the years – from Libya to Iraq to Syria. Ironically the West often used the ‘WMD’ threat as a false pretext for military action.

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,

The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 31 denied a request from adult entertainment providers to halt a federal appeals court ruling that rejected their challenge to zoning restrictions in New York City.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who oversees emergency appeals from New York state, issued a brief order in 59 Murray Enterprises Inc. v. City of New York without comment.

The order rejected a request to grant an injunction blocking a ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Because Sotomayor acted alone without referring the emergency application to the full court, under Supreme Court rules, the companies that brought the application may present the application to another justice.

Often in emergency applications, the high court asks the responding party to file a brief outlining its position. In this case, Sotomayor made no such request.

In 1995, New York City approved new zoning laws that restricted where adult entertainment-related businesses could operate. The regulations did not govern so-called “60/40” establishments in which under 40 percent of floorspace or the store’s stock-in-trade did not feature adult entertainment or media, according to the application filed with the nation’s highest court on Oct. 22.

The businesses that brought the Supreme Court application are involved in adult entertainment. Eight of the companies operate or lease space to strip clubs and topless bars, while the other six rent out or sell adult books and videos.

The companies involved in this litigation were not affected by the 1995 regulations, but in 2001, the city changed its zoning laws to take away the 60/40 rule, which brought the companies within reach of the laws restricting adult establishments, the application said.

The new zoning amendments were not immediately enforced, but years later when the city began to take steps to enforce them the businesses sued. A federal district court ruled for the city in 2024, holding that the 2001 zoning amendments did not infringe on the businesses’ constitutional rights.

The businesses appealed, arguing that the amendments ran afoul of the free speech clause of the First Amendment and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The bookstores involved in the legal challenge argued the 2001 zoning amendments violated the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, the application said.

The Second Circuit ruled in July this year that the 2001 zoning amendments did not violate the companies’ First Amendment rights.

Although the First amendment safeguards adult expression, it also permits a municipality to regulate adult entertainment providers, and as part of its zoning authority, allows a municipality to forbid adult businesses from operating in certain locations, the application said, citing the ruling.

“Even in areas where adult-oriented businesses are allowed, a city may prohibit such businesses from operating close to churches, parks, schools, residential areas, or other adult establishments,” the circuit court said, citing City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres Inc., a 1986 Supreme Court precedent.

A municipality may regulate adult establishments in an effort to mitigate the harmful “secondary effects” that can accompany adult-oriented businesses, such as “crime, decreased property values, and urban decay,” provided that such regulation cannot be used “as a pretext for suppressing expression.”

Limiting where adult businesses may operate may be done to “preserve the quality of life in the community at large,” which is “the essence of zoning,” the court said.

The application argued that the Supreme Court should grant the application because without it, the city could shut down businesses engaged in constitutionally protected expression and this would cause those businesses “irreparable and substantial injury,” the application said.

The application also said that the applicants intend to file a petition for certiorari, or review, of the Second Circuit’s ruling separately from the application.

The applicants’ attorney, Edward Rudofsky of Melville, New York, commented on the denial of the application.

“We respect but are naturally disappointed by the denial of our clients’ application for an injunction pending their petition for a writ of certiorari, which we thought was warranted for all of the reasons set forth in our papers,” Rudofsky told The Epoch Times.

The Epoch Times reached out for comment to the city’s Law Department. No reply was received by publication time.

The case of the mysterious self-shooting SIG M18 gets even stranger – following an August arrest in the case (it wasn’t the gun). 

On Friday, the Air Force said in a statement that two airman at a Wyoming US Air Force base pleaded guilty to making false statements in the late July shooting of Brayden Lovan, 21, an airman with the 90th Security Forces Squadron, 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base outside Cheyenne. 

Airmen Sarbjot Badesha and Matthew Rodriguez each pleaded guilty this week to making false official statements related to Lovan’s death July 20, according to the Air Force statement.

Badesha was sentenced to 30 days in confinement and forfeiture of $1,545, while Rodriguez was sentenced to 10 days in confinement, 15 days restriction to base and forfeiture of $500. Both also received administrative demotions.

The two reported hearing White-Allen’s gun go off and then seeing Lovan on the ground, according to the statement.

White-Allen allegedly told Badesha, “Here’s the story. Tell them that I slammed my duty belt on the desk and it went off.” White-Allen allegedly told Rodriguez to tell emergency responders that White-Allen’s “holster went off,” according to the statement.

Neither airman initially reported that information, leading investigators to believe at first that White-Allen’s M18 accidentally discharged, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, the guy who did it was found dead on Oct. 8, and the Air Force won’t say how.

Details about his death were released for the first time Friday, including that the alleged shooter, Marcus White-Allen, had pointed the gun at Lovan’s chest in a “joking manner.” White-Allen after the shooting allegedly urged the other two surviving airmen to lie about what happened, according to the statement.

White-Allen, who was arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter and making a false statement, was found dead on base on the morning of Oct. 8. Air Force officials have not disclosed details surrounding White-Allen’s death, saying it was still under investigation. -AP

What’s hilarious is that Sig has such a bad reputation for self-firing guns that everyone just bought the story. 

The pistol has been dogged for years by claims that it is prone to unintentional discharge if handled or bumped, without the trigger being pulled, according to the Epoch Times, which notes that at least 80 people have been injured since 2014,  and several lawsuits have been filed. In 2021, the U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania dismissed a claim by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent that his P320 discharged while in its holster, wounding him.

In 2020, Sig Sauer paid an almost $900,000 settlement in a case before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. In court documents, Sig Sauer said its agreement to settle was not an admission of negligence or wrongdoing on its part.

Strader said the company stands by its product, but has also listened to its customers’ concerns and offers a trigger upgrade for select models.

“The P320 Voluntary Upgrade is available to P320s produced from 2014-2017. More information can be found here P320 Voluntary Upgrade Program | SIG SAUER,” Strader stated.

In August 2024, the FBI evaluated the pistol for the Michigan State Police after one of its officers reported that he was shot by his holstered P320 at the shooting range.

The FBI report offered no definitive answers as to what happened in that case, but indicated the situation warranted a deeper investigation.

Via Brian McGlinchey at Stark Realities

Chances are, you’re already aware that birthrates are falling throughout the developed world, sagging well below the “replacement rate” and sparking worries about the implications of a future dearth of workers and consumers. However, the emphasis on economic implications has allowed a powerful political undercurrent to go almost entirely unnoticed: Birthrates are varying significantly by political orientation, a trend that has the potential to shape electorates and policies for generations to come — to the benefit of conservatives.

Replacement birthrates vary over time and place depending on shifts in related variables such as child mortality. In developed countries, sustaining populations without immigration currently requires reproduction at a rate of 2.1 births per woman of childbearing age. Except for an outlier replacement-level pace in 2007, the US birthrate has been sub-2.1 since the early 1970s. Last year, America hit a record-low 1.6, with even lower lows recorded elsewhere in the developed world: the birth rate in England and Wales fell to 1.41, while Scotland’s dropped to 1.25 and Italy’s to 1.2. Mainland France’s 1.59 was the lowest since World War I.

Media coverage has uniformly emphasized those top-line numbers. However, Financial Times columnist and chief data reporter John Burn-Murdoch recently waded deeper into the data and illuminated a sub-trend that could shape the future of the West. It turns out the drop-off in top-line birthrates is primarily the result of plummeting parenthood among progressive leftists, with conservative fertility slipping to a far smaller degree.

“From the US to Europe and beyond, people who identify as conservative are having almost as many children as they were decades ago,” Burn-Murdoch wrote. “The decline is overwhelmingly among those on the progressive left, in effect nudging each successive generation’s politics further to the right than they would otherwise have been.”

Readers might reasonably wonder if the birthrate numbers merely reflect the fact that people tend to become more conservative upon having children — particularly on social issues. That’s not the case. Critically, even aspirations to have children vary widely by political orientation. Illustrating the extremes on the continuum, a September NBC News poll found that male, Gen Z Trump voters put “having children” high atop their list of what’s central to their “personal definition of success.” In stark contrast, female Gen Z Kamala Harris voters put raising children in 12th place out of the 13 life goals presented as options, below aspirations like “having a job or career you find fulfilling” (which came in first) and “having emotional stability” (which placed third).

The conservative fertility edge shows up in state-level data. The 10 states with the highest 2023 birthrates were all Republican-majority states, led by South Dakota (2.01), Nebraska (1.92) and North Dakota (1.85). The bottom 10 were all “blue” states, with Vermont (1.30) at the bottom, and Oregon, Massachusetts, California, Washington and Illinois among those in the bottom pack. Paired with the trend of people migrating from blue states, it’s safe to say their lagging birthrates assure continued shrinkage in their congressional delegations, electoral votes and political power.

Looking more broadly, conservatives already have a population edge in America, with 33% of adults saying they’re conservative or very conservative, compared to just 24% who identify as liberal or very liberal. Self-categorized moderates represent a plurality, at 38%.

As your own extended family tree likely demonstrates, parents’ political leanings don’t strictly determine the views of their offspring. However, while most parents say they don’t make indoctrination a priority, their leanings do have an outsize influence in the grand scheme.

A 2023 Pew Research analysis found that only 16% of parents said it was extremely or very important for their children to grow up to hold political views similar to their own. Despite that, 81% of Republicans’ teenage children identify as either Republican or leaning toward the GOP; the Democratic correlation is 89%. Even if we assume that correlation decreases somewhat after the teen years, the large birthrate gap between conservatives and progressives promises to give the West’s politics a clear shove to the right over the coming decades.

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Will immigration weaken that shove? Conservatives have long been wary of the political implications of large immigrant inflows, accusing Democrats of promoting lax border policies in a self-serving scheme to import Democratic voters. Bolstering that case, a 2023 Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that 32% of foreign-born people living in the US prefer the Democratic Party, with only half that number — 16% — saying the Republican Party best represents their views. A hefty 52% preferred “neither party” or were “not sure.”

Importantly, an immigration sea change is underway. At least for the time being, migrant inflows have not only come to a screeching halt, but have even reversed. In January, there were 53.3 million foreign-born immigrants in the country. Six months later, those ranks had fallen by more than a million, the first such decline since the 1960s. Having peaked at 15.8% of the US population, foreign-born people now account for 15.4%.

In what could be a self-reinforcing dynamic, a rightward shift driven by conservatives’ higher fertility could help perpetuate policies that tamp down immigration, further shifting the math in favor of the right. We’ve already seen a major sentiment shift, as Americans attitudes about immigration soured mightily during the Biden presidency: The percent wanting fewer immigrants soared from 28% in 2000 to 55% in 2024, according to Gallup. (The percent dropped way back to 30% this summer, but with dramatically tighter immigration policies resulting in net emigration for the first time in well over 50 years, that particular finding seems like something of an apples vs oranges comparison.)

With European populations displaying their own rising impatience with the effects of mass immigration — a dynamic that has translated into a significant tightening of policies across the continent — immigration doesn’t seem poised to fully offset conservatives’ higher fertility either in Europe or the United States, at least for now.

Many factors are driving declining birthrates in the progressive left, including a lower level of enthusiasm — and often, outright disdain — for traditional family structures, greater prioritization of women’s career success, and a fatalism that makes the gift of life seem like a mixed proposition at best.

The Times’ Burn-Murdoch also points a finger at progressives who’ve convinced themselves that bringing new humans into the world will accelerate climate change. However, he notes that any given country’s level of carbon emissions is overwhelmingly driven by technology, not population, as evidenced by plummeting carbon emissions throughout the developed world even as their populations have continued to rise.

Even among progressives who do aspire to reproduce, there seem to be other self-defeating dynamics at work. For example, in their rebellion against traditional norms and expectations, and their desire to signal their subcultural alignment, progressives are more likely to make personal-appearance choices that could undermine their ability to land a mate.

Purple hair with an unconventional cut may be boldly expressive, but it comes at some unquantifiable price in the dating marketplace. The steepest price probably comes from septum-piercing — nose-rings that stray far from adornment and into outright self-vandalism. Science backs the idea that such piercings are bad for one’s love life: A study published by European Psychologist found that both women and men with facial piercings were perceived as not only less physically attractive but also less intelligent.

This TikToker took off her nose ring for the first time in a long time and immediately realized men are right.

“Someone said I look like a Democrat cause of the nose ring, so I’m taking it out.”

Nose rings and tattoos are some of the worst things women ever got into. pic.twitter.com/oF0zmwtTHr

— George (@BehizyTweets) October 22, 2025

That’s not all. Leftists are also far more likely to limit their dating pool by excluding people with differing political views: Among self-identified “very liberal” people, only 13% are willing to date conservatives. Putting that into perspective, 29% of them are willing to date an ex-felon. On the other hand, very conservative Americans are nearly twice as willing to date their political opposites.

When looking to the political future, it’s often said that “demographics are destiny.” For the most part, progressives have employed the axiom with a swaggering confidence in their inevitable triumph, while conservatives have used it with a tone of grim resignation. Given the reproductive realities, we may soon see a rhetorical role reversal.

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Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge

A Washington Parish grand jury in Louisiana has indicted Democratic Bogalusa, Louisiana Mayor Tyrin Z. Truong on charges of malfeasance in office, public intimidation, and theft, according to the Bogalusa Daily News.

The indictment is part of what officials describe as an ongoing multi-agency investigation involving federal, state, and local authorities. Prosecutors allege Truong intentionally carried out his official duties unlawfully and knowingly allowed other city employees to ignore theirs. His arraignment is scheduled for November 10, 2025.

According to prosecutors, the case centers on claims that Truong misused Bogalusa taxpayer funds to pay a personal legal debt from a 2023 Louisiana public records lawsuit in which a judge ruled that Truong personally owed attorney fees and penalties after refusing to release public documents.

When the Bogalusa City Council denied his request to use public money, prosecutors say Truong threatened retaliation, vowing to overwhelm council members with records requests. Investigators allege he then pressured a city insurance vendor to issue a check labeled as a “reimbursement,” had it deposited into a city account, and ordered another check for the same amount to be written to himself.

The Daily News writes that the indictment details additional alleged misconduct, including accepting unauthorized salary and leave payments, forcing a city contractor to pay another contractor who did no work, purchasing illegal narcotics from known drug dealers and failing to report the activity, attempting to solicit a bribe from a local business — a move that allegedly cost the city a major development project — and ordering city workers to perform plumbing repairs at his mother’s home using city materials.

Prosecutors also accuse Truong of using city funds to solicit a prostitute at an Airbnb in Atlanta.

The charges follow Truong’s January 2025 arrest by the Louisiana State Police during a drug-trafficking investigation. At the time, State Police said Truong “organized entertainment with a prostitute” during a mayors’ conference in Atlanta and paid for the Airbnb using public funds, while also being accused of purchasing drugs in Louisiana. Investigators allege a Bogalusa-based drug ring was selling opioids, high-grade marijuana, THC products, and MDMA, with profits used to purchase firearms later connected to local crimes.

Sims emphasized that the probe continues and involves cooperation from multiple agencies. He said, “This case reflects the ongoing commitment to ensuring accountability and integrity in public office.” Truong remains presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.