Wednesday morning #headlines recap
Iran-US "pause" shattered - ballistic missiles hit US base in Jordan. IRGC struck Muwaffaq Salti airbase ~5:45pm ET; oil surged +5%. CENTCOM calls it an intercepted "surprise attack"; Jordan says it downed 5 missiles, while ground evidence and OSINT report a direct hit. Iran holds all the cards… they know the US is running out of fuel and ammo.
US + Saudi strike Iran-backed militias in Iraq - new front. Hits on PMF weapons depots in Wasit province; Iraqi PM called an emergency NSC meeting. Yes, yes… let’s drag more of the Middle East into this quagmire, what a brilliant strategy.
Iran denies seeking talks for 16-17 days; reports say no active mediation, contradicting the Times of Israel "MoU revival" story that goosed stocks mid-session. You’re telling me that jews are intentionally manipulating the markets???!?!
4 tankers crossed Hormuz on July 27 vs 58 a year ago; zerohedge cites zero tankers in either direction. Meanwhile Trump says “we control the strait.” Gas jumped 20¢ overnight in my part of the world…
Ukraine link de-escalated: Araghchi says Kiev’s FM assured him the attack on an Iranian ship was unintentional, easing the Caspian retaliation threat.
Chasiv Yar and Kostiantynivka both fall to Russia. After ~840 and ~270 days respectively, both cities captured simultaneously.
Russian sea blockade choking Odessa: traffic from 12 ships to 1; analysts say Ukraine is landlocked, threatening 90% of ag exports / 60% of total and the grain corridor.
KOSPI second circuit breaker; index slid as much as 12.6%, on track for a record ~35% monthly loss. ~$950B wiped across three Asian markets. Circuit breaker is your fake and gay term for closing the casino because the house is losing…
Fed decision today into a coin-flip. Futures split ~30% hike / ~70% hold - the widest pre-meeting divergence since 2020.
Fauci pleads the fifth before congressional hearing. Do you want your nothingburger plain or with all the toppings?
President Trump turns on Benjamin Netanyahu just hours before their meeting, saying he does not need Netanyahu to tell him anything and that Netanyahu only wants the United States to stay involved in the war against Iran. Trump says he doesn’t need Israeli intelligence because he has the Space Force, which knows exactly what’s going on. "Bibi is telling me that because he wants me to stay involved." A little lover’s quarrel has broken out, they’ll smooth things out I’m sure…
The Trump administration is planning to ban imports of Chinese robots and power inverters, warning that the technology could pose a national security threat. At this point when I see “national security threat” I just substitute “protecting the money laundering machine”.
DNI Pulte Announces they just fired 30% of their intelligence staffers. Small, but still counts as good news…
Don’t let the news get you down folks, it’s important to keep a positive attitude…
Sunday morning #headlines recap
Trump ordered the military not to carry out the approved Friday-night strikes, per Axios, hours after Oman-mediated Hormuz talks resumed. TACO back on the menu…
The stated reason via NYT: continued Iranian attacks could drain the Patriot interceptor stockpile "close to zero." 1,200+ Patriots already burned at ~$4M each; Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Caine warned resuming major operations would fully deplete CENTCOM's inventory. Both VP Vance and Caine raised the stockpile warning directly to Trump at Friday's White House meeting; a senior official said the strikes had "the opposite effect of what is intended, keeping Iran cohesive". I guess they didn’t know any of this 13 days ago when they resumed hostilities.
Iran has rejected multiple US-backed ceasefire proposals routed through Qatar, Iraq and Pakistan; a source says Tehran is waiting for the SPR (~311M bbl, lowest since March 1983) to fall critically and oil to hit ~$120 before dealing. Trump’s malfeasance nearing levels of treason.
The IRGC's own list of damage it has inflicted — 11 aircraft, an F-15, P-8, C-17 destroyed on the ground, "200+ US dead” — remains unverified, but the airfield emptying and the strike pause are independently corroborated. Silver lining: those bases won’t be rebuilt IMO.
Houthis struck Aramco facilities at Jizan and Yanbu with dozens of ballistic/cruise missiles and drones — first hit on both in 4+ years; likely targets the SAMREF/YASREF refineries, ~800k b/d combined. Fires and a mushroom plume reported over Jizan. Another “oil crisis” caused by the US meddling on behalf of the jews, just like it was in the 1970s.
After suffering a major refinery hit Saudis decide to (checks notes) bomb empty mountains in Yemen.
Iran's Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine of hitting an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian, killing one sailor; Kyiv separately said it struck Russian ships allegedly moving military cargo between Russia and Iran. WWIII gathering momentum.
50 tankers crossed Hormuz on July 24 last year; 1 crossed this July 24. Iran's negotiator's office insists the strait "remains closed" and dismissed Qatari stating otherwise as irrelevant.
First-ever Russian FAB glide-bomb strikes on Odessa's port infrastructure (from Su-34s), alongside Chornomorsk and Mykolaiv — "damage that dwarfs anything drones can inflict." Kharkiv front facing a new cauldron with up to 1,000 Ukrainian troops encircled.
Ukrainian strikes on the Kirillovka resort in occupied Zaporizhzhia killed 8–14 including children per Russian sources. I guess they couldn’t find a hospital to bomb.
82% odds of a rate HIKE by the September FOMC. Tesla -18% on the week (worst since 2022); Oracle -67% from its September ATH, ~$660B cap gone; global equity cap at 137% of GDP, near record.
Blackstone's $78B private-credit fund co-CEO resigns weeks after BlackRock's private-credit head departed. Rats fleeing a sinking ship?
Anthropic is the only major AI firm not to sign the open-weights support letter. David Sacks framed a China-open-source ban as "a dagger through the heart" of US devs. Looks like that ends any talks of a ban.
250,000+ evacuated as wildfires ravage France and Spain; France passed a 100,000-hectare record, ~141k evacuated around Bordeaux/Cap-Ferret; fires near Madrid out of control. Meanwhile Spain's Kamov Ka-32 firefighting helicopters sit grounded — EU sanctions block Russian spare parts and maintenance. Congratulations, you played yourself.
Headline: BC Wildfire Update | 44% of Fires Out of Control, Evacuations Expand. Remember when we used to just assume wildfires were a natural phenomenon caused by lightning?
Berlin Pride car-ramming: a van rammed the Christopher Street Day crowd; 1 dead, 16 injured; police hunting suspect "Abdul B," released from youth detention in May. Brown invaders running over faggots. What a spectacle.
Ben Crump, the famous, top-of-the-shelf civil rights attorney who’s represented families in high-profile cases like Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, and Sonya Massey, who is a licensed attorney, Florida State Law grad, and passed the bar, with decades of practice, big settlements and all, and he apparently cannot read. Video at nitter dot space/AmiriKing/status/2080748417412747292
Mitch McConnell’s aides claim the Republican senator is doing well, but offered no photo or video evidence, instead asking Americans to trust their statement. He’s dead, Jim.
Not much in the way of good news stories today, but I’ll post them as I find them…
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