Unaccountable: The FBI's Strange Refusal To Fix Key Crime Stat

Authored by John R. Lott Jr. via RealClearInvestigations,

Three years ago, RealClearInvestigations reported that the FBI was undercounting the number of armed civilians who had thwarted active shooters by a factor of three.

Even though the FBI acknowledged the issue at the time, it never corrected the error involving the politically fraught issue. In the years since, the problem has only gotten worse. Since RCI’s 2022 article, the FBI has acknowledged just three additional incidents of armed good Samaritans stopping active shooters from 2022 to 2024, and none in the last two years. In contrast, the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), which I head, has documented 78 such cases over that same period – a 26-fold difference.

The discrepancy highlights systemic problems in the nation’s record-keeping regarding the politically potent issue of crime and safety. The refusal of many local jurisdictions, including Chicago, Maricopa County, Arizona, and New Orleans, to provide accurate crime data to the FBI has long made comparisons with many cities unreliable. The ongoing Justice Department investigation into whether Washington D.C. police falsified crime rates to create a “false illusion of safety” may provide more evidence to distrust the numbers that local authorities submit. 

The FBI has the ability to set the record straight in at least some cases, providing a clearer view of remedies to crime. But its unwillingness to correct errors – or its efforts to fix them on the sly, as RCI reported last year – and improve its methodology raises more concerns. Its shortcomings regarding armed citizens thwarting active shooters illuminate many of these problems.

“It is understandable that the FBI or those they hire to compile cases might miss some,” said Carl Moody, a crime researcher at the College of William & Mary. “I don’t understand why the FBI never corrects overlooked or misidentified active shooting cases, even after researchers and the media point them out. I worry that we can’t trust the FBI with crime data.”

The FBI declined to comment.

The FBI defines active shooter incidents as those in which an individual kills or attempts to kill people in a public place, excluding shootings that are related to other criminal activity, such as robbery or fighting over drug turf. They include instances from one person being shot at and missed all the way up to a mass public shooting.

In 2022, the FBI reported that only 11 of the 252 active shooter incidents it identified for the period 2014-2021, or 4.4%, were stopped by an armed citizen. However, an analysis by my organization identified a total of 281 active shooter incidents during that same period and found that 41 of them – or 14.6% – were stopped by an armed citizen. 

Academic articles dating back to 2015 have flagged similar problems, and even the researchers who collected data for the FBI admitted that “our data are imperfect.”

The FBI report compiled for the Biden administration for 2023 and 2024 contains worse errors. It asserts that armed civilians stopped none of the 72 active shooting cases it identified. The CPRC, by contrast, identified 121 active shooter cases – 45 of which were ultimately halted by armed civilians. Those incidents included eight cases that likely would have resulted in mass public shootings with four or more people murdered. 

“There was a lady there. She heard the shots being fired, and one of them, I think it was her godchild, was involved,” a representative of the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office in West Virginia told Metro News.  “[S]he fired some rounds back at them, which stopped this melee of firepower and they actually took off.”

In another case in 2023, CNN reported that a concealed handgun permit holder shot a gunman after he had murdered one person, wounded three others, and pointed his weapon at bystanders at the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso, Texas. 

Various factors explain this stark discrepancy in the data. Police departments do not keep separate records of active shooter incidents, which is at the heart of the problem. Crime researchers, including my organization, have to rely on media reports, which can be inaccurate, to identify and classify the incidents. 

What’s more, the FBI does not compile its own list of cases but hires researchers at Texas State University who use Google searches to find news stories about these incidents. As a result, the potential for incomplete search results and difficult judgment calls by researchers means the FBI numbers are prone to error.

Between 2014 and 2024, FBI reports determined that armed citizens stopped 14 of 374 active shooter incidents its researchers identified – or 3.7% –  with zero defensive gun use cases occurring in the two most recent years. Using the FBI’s definitions, CPRC identified 561 active shooter incidents, with armed citizens stopping 202 of them – or 36%. In addition, CPRC found 31 other cases where civilians intervened before suspects fired their weapons – incidents CPRC excluded because they did not fit the FBI criteria, though they likely prevented shootings as well. 

Most significantly, during that decade, the FBI overlooked 42 incidents where civilians likely prevented mass public shootings.

M. Hunter Martaindale, a research assistant professor at Texas State University, was shown CPRC’s entire list of cases. He objected to just two of the incidents the CPRC identified that the FBI had missed – without commenting on any others. Even then, the two cases differed from the included ones only in that they lacked defensive gun uses. Texas State University declined to respond to repeated requests for comment.

All the cases missed by the FBI are available here, along with links to the underlying sources, so that people can double-check whether any of those cases don’t fit the FBI’s definition.

The FBI compounds the problem by refusing to correct missing cases brought to its attention, including these high-profile ones:

• In 2018, just months after the Parkland school shooting where 17 people were murdered, a gunman opened fire at a back-to-school event for children and their families at another Florida school. A concealed handgun permit holder quickly intervened and stopped the attack. More than 200 people, most of them children, were at the event. “This person stepped in and saved a lot of people’s lives,” said Titusville Police Sgt. William Amos. Unlike the earlier tragedy in Parkland, this incident ended without mass casualties – but national media outlets outside Florida ignored it.
• A week after the Pulse Nightclub massacre in Orlando in 2016 where 49 people were murdered, a 32-year-old man began shooting inside another nightclub. Because South Carolina law allowed concealed handguns in bars, a permit holder was able to respond. Before the attacker could fire on a fourth victim, the permit holder shot him in the leg. Police later discovered the attacker carried more than 100 rounds. A South Carolina sheriff credited the man with preventing further bloodshed.

In 2024, when conservative freelance reporter John Stossel asked the FBI how complete its data was, the Bureau admitted: “[Our data is] not intended to explore all active shooting incidents but rather to provide a baseline understanding . . .” Yet the FBI never includes that qualification in its reports or press releases. 

“As an academic who relies upon the FBI for accurate reports on crime, I am disappointed by the many errors found in their crime data, particularly on their active shooting data,” said Gary Mauser, an emeritus professor at Simon Fraser University in Canada who has extensively studied gun control and defensive gun uses. 

The FBI’s active shooting reports never indicate whether the attacks occur in gun-free zones. “When places post gun-free zone signs, law-abiding citizens obey those rules and can’t stop attacks in those areas,” explains Professor Moody.

Surveys reveal that criminologists and economists rank the same four policies as the most effective for stopping mass public shootings: eliminating gun-free zones, relaxing federal regulations on company-imposed gun-free zones, allowing K-12 teachers to carry concealed handguns, and allowing military personnel to carry on bases.

The corrected active shooting data between 2014 and 2024 undermines the argument for gun-free zones in particular. The data reveal that citizens stopped 178 out of 339 potential or actual mass shootings where it was possible to identify that guns were allowed in the area. So 52.5% of attacks were stopped by people legally carrying concealed handguns. In 2024, that rate had risen to 62.5%.

These corrected numbers show why it’s no accident that 92% of mass public shootings occur in gun-free zones, where civilians cannot legally carry firearms, and they highlight how the FBI’s reports leave out critical information.

The Annunciation Catholic School shooter in Minneapolis in August made this point explicit in his manifesto: “I recently heard a rumor that James Holmes, the Aurora theater shooter, may have chosen venues that were ‘gun-free zones.’ I would probably aim the same way. . . . Holmes wanted to make sure his victims would be unarmed. That’s why I and many others like schools so much. At least for me, I am focused on them. Adam Lanza is my reason.” (Lanza carried out the Sandy Hook Elementary School attack in Newtown, Conn.) This shooter even explained why he avoided attacking during morning drop-off or afternoon pick-up, when parents with concealed-carry permits might be present.

The 2023 Nashville Covenant School shooter made a similar calculation. She admitted she rejected another target because it had too much security. “There was another location that was mentioned, but because of a threat assessment by the suspect of too much security, they decided not to,” Nashville Police Chief John Drake explained. Covenant had no armed staff to fight back.

The Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket attacker in 2022 echoed the same logic in his manifesto: “Areas where CCW permits are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack.” Many other killers have used almost identical words, with other cases going all the way back to Columbine, where the murderers expressed their opposition to potential victims being able to carry permitted concealed handguns.

These attackers may be deranged, but they are not stupid. They are almost all suicidal and plan to die, but they know that the more people they kill, the more media coverage they’ll get. That’s why they choose targets where no one can fight back.

The news media, federal lawmakers, and courts frequently rely on the FBI’s active shooting reports. News media articles rely on the FBI data to argue that guns are rarely used to stop these attacks. Headlines illustrate this framing: “Rare in U.S. for an active shooter to be stopped by bystander” (Associated Press); “Rampage in Indiana a rare instance of armed civilian ending mass shooting” (Washington Post); and “After Indiana mall shooting, one hero but no lasting solution to gun violence” (New York Times). 

Some states recently loosened or removed restrictions on gun-free zones and expanded the ability of teachers to carry firearms in schools. For example, Wyoming in 2025 abolished most of its gun-free zones in public buildings, state legislative sessions, and other governmental meetings, and public airports outside of those areas restricted by federal law. A number of states – such as Idaho, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming – adopted statutes that explicitly exempt school employees from bans on firearms on K-12 grounds, subject to permitting, training, and approval by local authorities. Utah, New Hampshire, Wyoming, and parts of Oregon allow any teacher with a concealed handgun permit to carry on school property.

After reviewing the missing data shown in this RCI report, Professor David Mustard, a distinguished professor at the University of Georgia who researches extensively on crime, was blunt in his conclusion: “The federal government must improve its records related to self-defensive uses of firearms – especially in active shootings. Because academics, media, and policymakers depend on their data, it is essential that the FBI collect and compile the data consistently and accurately.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 17:40

Bezos Sees Data Centers in Space - Predicts AI 'Bubble' To Pay Off Like Dot-Coms

In a jaw-dropping vision of the future, Amazon founder and executive chair Jeff Bezos predicted Friday that “gigawatt-scale” data centers will be built in space within the next 10 to 20 years, powered by endless solar energy - and that they’ll eventually outperform their Earth-bound counterparts.

“We’re going to start building these giant gigawatt data centers in space,” Jeff Bezos said Friday. Getty Images

Speaking at Italian Tech Week in Turin, Bezos said orbital computing will be the next great leap forward, likening the rise of artificial intelligence to the early internet boom — full of hype, bubbles, and inevitable winners.

“These giant training clusters, those will be better built in space, because we have solar power there, 24/7. There are no clouds and no rain, no weather,” Bezos said in a public conversation with Ferrari and Stellantis Chairman John Elkann. “We will be able to beat the cost of terrestrial data centers in space in the next couple of decades.”

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

Bezos framed the shift as part of humanity’s ongoing migration to space infrastructure.

“It already has happened with weather satellites. It has already happened with communication satellites. The next step is going to be data centers and then other kinds of manufacturing,” he said.

Space Servers: Big Gains, Big Headaches

The concept of orbital data centers has gained traction among tech giants as Earth-based facilities devour electricity and water to cool their racks of servers. Continuous sunlight and zero weather make space an appealing option - at least in theory.

But Bezos acknowledged there are serious hurdles ahead: maintenance and upgrades would be far more difficult in orbit, rocket launches are costly, and any failure could wipe out billions in hardware in a flash.

Still, the Amazon founder insists that as launch costs fall and technology improves, the economics will eventually tilt in space’s favor.

The AI Boom: Bubble or Breakthrough?

Bezos also turned to artificial intelligence, calling it a transformative force that should be embraced despite the frenzy surrounding it. He drew direct parallels between the AI surge and the dot-com era, when hype led to a crash — but also paved the way for the modern digital economy.

“We should be extremely optimistic that the societal and beneficial consequences of AI, like we had with the internet 25 years ago, are for real and there to stay,” he said. “It is important to decorrelate the potential bubbles and their bursting consequences that might or might not happen from the actual reality.”

Bezos added that while AI investment might look like a bubble, it’s the good kind - an industrial bubble that drives progress rather than financial destruction.

“This is kind of an industrial bubble as opposed to financial bubbles. The ones that are industrial are not nearly as bad - they can even be good. Society benefits from those inventions,” he said, adding "Investors don’t usually give a team of six people a couple billion dollars with no product, and that’s happening today." 

Jeff Bezos called AI an “industrial bubble” at Italian Tech Week:

“Investors don’t usually give a team of six people a couple billion dollars with no product, and that’s happening today.”

He added that while bubbles fund both good and bad ideas, society benefits when the… pic.twitter.com/7QTSgT0gh3

— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) October 3, 2025

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 17:20

$17,000 per Month: How Sky-High Prescription Prices Take Toll On Patients

Authored by Lawrence Wilson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

“If I were 10 percent less mean or 10 percent less stubborn, I’d probably be dead,” Sarah, a multiple sclerosis patient, said when describing her year-long battle to obtain the medication that could alter the course of the incurable condition and extend her productive life for years.

Diagnosed at age 37, Sarah said she experienced symptoms of this disease of the central nervous system, which can include numbness, weakness, troubling walking, vision changes, and slurred speech.

“I felt like my eyes had fallen out of my head,” she said.

Her doctor prescribed medication to lessen the symptoms, and that helped for a while, according to Sarah. But when her symptoms worsened, her doctor prescribed a newer drug called Kesimpta that promised relief but was also very expensive.

That’s where her story really begins.

Sarah, now 44, asked to be identified by first name only because of her employer’s contract with the federal government. She sought pre-authorization for use of Kesimpta from her insurance company.

Despite her worsening condition, the MRI results showing the progression of the disease, and letters from her neurologist at Johns Hopkins, Sarah’s insurer refused to cover the treatment.

“I priced it,” Sarah said. “It would have cost me $9,000 a month.”

That’s in addition to the $500 per month that she was already paying out-of-pocket for other medical expenses.

When she became unable to walk more than 10 feet, Sarah left her home in Maryland, moved in with her retired mother, and considered applying for disability.

Sarah’s story is not unique. Although President Donald Trump’s Most Favored Nation prescription drug pricing initiative has begun to lower some prices, many fully insured, chronically ill patients find themselves fighting two battles. One is the fight to overcome the disease and its effect on their body and mind.

The other struggle—often waged alone—is to overcome the bureaucratic hurdles imposed by health insurers, drug companies, and government agencies to obtain the treatments that could improve and extend their lives. Often, those treatments involve new drugs for which less-expensive generic versions are not yet available.

Multiple sclerosis patient Sarah (R) poses with her sister, in this file photo. Courtesy of Sarah Bureaucratic Hurdles

“As a patient, you go through a lot of hoops,” said Beth Kitchin, 61, of Birmingham, Alabama.

After multiple rounds of inpatient chemotherapy to treat her leukemia, followed by a stem cell transplant, Kitchin’s health journey took yet another unexpected turn when she developed graft-versus-host disease, or GVHD.

The potentially life-threatening condition occurs when immune cells from transplanted tissue attack the recipient’s cells, causing a range of symptoms, from a rash to vomiting. It can be temporary or lifelong.

To treat this complication and its varied symptoms, Kitchin’s doctor prescribed several new and expensive medications. One was Jakafi, which costs more than $17,000 per month.

Patients in the United States pay higher drug prices than those in any other country, and prices for new medications are often the most expensive.

Kitchin, a health educator at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, was fully insured, and her insurer approved the treatment. But the co-pay was $1,800 per month.

What followed felt like a tug-of-war between the insurance company and the drug manufacturer, she said.

The manufacturer, Incyte Corp., offered a co-pay waiver for several months. When that expired, she paid $1,000 for 12 pills while continuing to search for alternatives. She eventually qualified for a patient assistance program from Incyte.

“It’s like a cycle,” Kitchin said. “Drug companies price their drugs really high. The insurance company battles back by only covering 70 [percent] or 80 percent, and then there’s this gigantic co-pay.”

She found that her insurer did not count the $1,800 monthly co-pay toward her annual out-of-pocket deductible, she said.

“These are the battles we fight,” Kitchin said, noting that, as a university employee, she had doctors, nurses, and social workers available to help her navigate the system. “But not everybody has that.”

Sarah said her experience with her insurer was similarly frustrating. After exhausting her appeals with the insurance company, she filed for an insurance fair hearing, a formal administrative procedure for resolving disputes in Maryland.

The hearing was scheduled for exactly one year after her doctor first prescribed Kesimpta. Two weeks before the hearing, the insurance company notified Sarah that her prior authorization was approved.

Beth Kitchin, 61, of Birmingham, Ala., in this file photo. Courtesy of Beth Kitchin

“They were going to battle me right until the very last second,” she said.

Prior authorization is a process whereby insurance companies require providers to submit proof of medical necessity in advance of rendering certain treatments or medications. If prior authorization is not requested or granted for these treatments, the insurance company can deny payment.

Insurers consider this a way to “promote safe, timely, evidence-based, affordable, and efficient care,” stated the Association of Health Insurance Providers, a trade organization.

The American Medical Association has said that the process is “overused” and has called on the insurance industry to eliminate “care delays, patient harms, and practice hassles” resulting from it.

In June, a group of major health insurers pledged to overhaul the prior authorization process to reduce administrative delays and improve access to care for Americans enrolled in commercial, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid managed care plans.

‘Never a Smooth Process’

Sanie Mikaelian, 44, of Los Angeles, has been living with a rare form of blood cancer for 11 years.

“It’s a roller coaster,” she said, reflecting on her symptoms, the treatments she has endured, and the progression of her disease. Mikaelian also suffers from GVHD.

Adding anxiety to her already uncertain future is the annual reauthorization required by her insurer for continued treatment with Jakafi.

That’s not uncommon, according to the American Medical Association, which notes that reauthorization is often required even when patients have been using a medication to good effect for years and for some chemotherapies that are the only effective treatment for certain cancers.

A 2023 survey by the Arthritis Foundation found that 37 percent of patients were required to undergo reauthorization annually.

“God forbid that something with my insurance changes or if I switched my primary doctor, hematologist, or oncologist, and it happened to be around the annual prior authorization time,” Mikaelian said.

That was the case one year, and approval for continued use of the drug was delayed. To stretch her supply of the medication, she started taking half-doses, then quarter-doses, before gaining access to the medication again.

Read the rest here...

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 17:00

Standoff

Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Clusterfuck Nation,

Welcome to the first Monday in October. Know what that means? It means, by federal statute (28 U.S.C. § 2), that the Supreme Court convenes for its new term. Thank goodness, because it’s pretty obvious by now that the Party of Chaos seeks to hogtie and paralyze the executive branch of the government in order to promote the chaos that the Party of Chaos has deftly created for our country. Something must be done.

Chaos is now the Democrats’ preferred milieu for American daily life. They call it The Resistance, bethinking themselves heroic revolutionaries, much like the Jacobins did in Paris, 1793-94, when they tried to turn French society upside-down and inside-out with their insane social “reforms” while they went about chopping the heads off of 17,000 fellow citizens (another 10,000 died in prison awaiting the guillotine). The Jacobins were intoxicated by blood-letting. Their antics lasted less than one year, at the end of which they were briskly routed from the revolutionary assembly hall and escorted within hours to appointments with their own beloved head-chopping device. . . end of story.

The Democratic Party is likewise demonstrably insane. Look no further than the mobs calling themselves Antifa and Transtifa assaulting the federal immigration buildings around the country and promising overtly to injure and even kill their opponents. These are not mere protesters, and everyone knows it, including the upper echelons of the party. They are a riffraff of the violent mentally ill committing criminal acts. Many of them are getting paid for their capers by shadowy NGOs, backed by deranged billionaires. In the case of Portland, Oregon, they have been protected for years by the political establishment, including the governor, the mayor, the police, who will not arrest them, and DAs who won’t prosecute them.

They are ostensibly devoted to stopping the deportation of illegal immigrants, but that is really just the most convenient sob-story to hang their real intentions on — which are to destroy the country currently configured as a Republic and bring on a despotic utopia of free stuff — liquidating anyone who opposes them in the process. They are not all communists, strictly speaking, but the utopia they seek certainly smells like the nightmare societies operated by Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot.

Many of us are opposed to that outcome, including the president of the US, Mr. Trump, who is finally sending federal troops into these places to put a stop to all that. The Antifa street actions in Portland and Chicago give off the odor of actual insurrection, though they have not been labeled as such yet. The police in Chicago have literally declared that they will not assist or protect federal agents going about their business. The police in Portland have been ordered by their superiors to stand down with Antifa.

The president has a duty to protect federal property and the lives of federal employees. You might have noticed that federal district judges have been marshaled by occult Lawfare forces to play a role in The Resistance — to issue stays and temporary restraining orders (TROs) on all and every federal action to put down apparent insurrection. The judges refuse to recognize the Antifa mob actions as anything but lawful assemblies, and they are plainly lying about that.

This has got to stop and the SCOTUS has got to do it now that they are open for business this first Monday of October. The court has what’s called an emergency docket, which allows for expedited interventions on behalf of the executive branch in events that demand it. The emergency docket bypasses the standard merit docket process, which entails oral arguments and detailed opinion. The court’s decisions in such emergency cases are likewise temporary stays of lower court stays and TROs, pending a case moving into the regular merit docket, where arguments are made and definitive decisions are issued on what the law allows the president to do. It’s kind of hard to imagine that SCOTUS would rule against the president defending federal property and lives.

The Party of Chaos is pretty obviously trying to gin up a constitutional crisis at the same time that Chuck Schumer’s Senate Democrats have shut down regular operations of the government in a foolish game of “chicken.” Before long, Americans will suffer from the shutdown, especially middle-class government employees (largely Democrats) who have bills to pay like everybody else. Tomorrow, to aggravate matters, Tuesday, a massive Antifa mob action is planned for New York City.

The play here for the Party of Chaos is the same old routine straight out of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals: instigate action on the enemy in order to provoke a reaction by them that will allow the radicals to yell “tyrant” and “fascist.” The Party of Chaos is against all order and authority that is not their own order and authority — which is the kind you get with Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot: rank despotism, mass murder, lockdown, prison, censorship, poverty, and lawless law. The objective is to maneuver President Trump into declaring a national emergency so they can call him names. The SCOTUS needs to sort all this out without delay.

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 16:20

Trump Threatens To Bomb Iran Again, Says He's 'Not Going To Wait So Long'

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

President Trump on Sunday said that he would bomb Iran again if the country restarts its nuclear program, warning the US was "not going to wait so long this time," a threat that comes amid growing signs that another US-Israeli war against Iran may be coming.

"The B2s, what they did. Those beautiful flying wings, what they did, they hit every single target. And just in case, we shot 30 Tomahawks out of a submarine," Trump said in a speech at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, during a celebration of the US Navy’s 250th birthday, referring to the US bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities on June 22.

Via Associated Press

Trump claimed in the speech that Iran was going to have a nuclear weapon "within a month," but before Israel launched the war, US intelligence determined Tehran was not pursuing a nuclear weapon, and even if it chose to, it would take years to actually develop a deliverable weapon.

“They were going to have a nuclear weapon within a month,” Trump told a crowd of US Navy sailors. “And now they can start the operation all over again, but I hope they don’t because we’ll have to take care of that too if they do, I let them know that. You want to do that, it’s fine, but we’re going to take care of that and we’re not going to wait so long.”

Trump went on to say that he had B-2 pilots visit him in the Oval Office, who said the US had been working on plans to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities for 22 years, but that no president before him wanted to do it.

The president has previously acknowledged that he bombed Iran on behalf of Israel. “Look, nobody has done more for Israel than I have, including the recent attacks with Iran, wiping that thing out,” he said in an interview with the Daily Caller published on September 1.

Since the ceasefire that ended the 12-day US-Israeli war on Iran, Trump has threatened to bomb Iran again several times. At the same time, the Trump administration is demanding that Iran enter negotiations to give up its nuclear enrichment program and place limits on its ballistic missiles, demands that Iranian officials have made clear are a non-starter.

President Trump names the USSS George H.W. Bush, “Navy One” for the day:

“Everybody knows this is, as you know, Navy One. For the day. Only for the day. It's Navy One, like Air Force One. This is Navy One."

First Lady Melania Trump approves!
pic.twitter.com/DroEpD05te

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 5, 2025

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently reaffirmed his prohibition on the development of nuclear weapons but also vowed Tehran wouldn’t give up its civilian nuclear enrichment program, framing it as a matter of national pride. He also rejected the idea of imposing limits on Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 15:35

Israeli Official Who Fled US After Pedo Sting Indicted; Trump DHS Appointee Is His Lawyer

A senior official in Israel's cybersecurity agency who was arrested in a child sex sting in August has been indicted by a Clark County grand jury on Friday, six weeks after he was mysteriously allowed to flee the United States back to Israel.

Tom Alexandrovich, who helps guide Israel's cybersecurity policy, was representing Israel at Black Hat USA, a professional conference in Las Vegas, when he was one of seven people swept up in a major, multi-agency sting operation targeting pedophiles soliciting sex acts with minors. According to court records, on Aug 6, the 38-year-old Alexandrovich allegedly committed the felony offense of using computer technology in an attempt to lure a child into sexual abuse. That particular crime encompasses children under 16. The next day, he posted a $10,000 bond at the Henderson Detention Center and fled the fucking country. 

Online court records show that Alexandrovich is expected to appear on Oct. 15 for an initial arraignment, and is being represented by Las Vegas-based defense attorney David Chesnoff - who President Trump appointed to a position on the Homeland Security Advisory Council. 

Las Vegas Attorney and Trump DHS Advisory Council nominee David Chesnoff

Why is an alleged Israeli high-level government pedophile being represented by a Trump nominee? Chesnoff also represented an Israeli dual citizen who pleaded guilty to lying about the Bidens taking a $5 million bribe from Burisma. Really weird. 

In any event, according to the indictment, Alexandrovich "willfully, unlawfully and knowingly" with an undercover FBI agent, whom he believed was under 16, with the intent to "solicit, persuade or lure" them into sexual conduct through online apps such as WhatsApp and Pure, the latter of which is an app that allows users to "date, play and misbehave" anonymously. 

As the news broke six weeks ago, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reflexively denied Alexandrovich had done anything wrong, claiming that “the employee, who does not hold a diplomatic visa, was not arrested and returned to Israel as scheduled." Subsequently confronted with court records, Israel's Cyber Directorate said the earlier false statement “was accurate based on the information provided to us," and that Alexandrovich is now on leave "by mutual decision." 

As we noted at the time of his arrest, it's not clear why or how he was allowed to return to Israel, which has a reputation as a haven for pedophiles who prey on American children. Citing a Jewish watchdog group, a 2020 CBS News report found that, in just the previous six years, more than 60 Jewish Americans who'd been accused of pedophilia had fled to Israel, taking advantage of Israel's "Right of Return" law that lets any Jewish individual in the world enjoy instant citizenship (though they are still subject to extradition). 

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 15:15

"Civil War Rematch"!? Chicago Mayor Establishes "ICE-Free Zones" After Abandoning Border Agents Under Attack

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order Monday blocking federal immigration agents from using city-owned property for immigration enforcement operations - just one day after we learned that the city 'waved off' cops responding to a vehicle-ramming attack on Border Patrol agents over the weekend.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has rejected President Donald Trump's plan to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago. (Kamil Krazaczynski/Getty Images)

Johnson has established "ICE-free zones," referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) - as part of his 'Protecting Chicago Initiative.'

"Today, we are signing an executive order aimed at reining in this out-of-control administration," Johnson said during a Monday press conference. "The order establishes ICE-free zones. That means that city property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as staging grounds for these raids."

"The Trump administration must end the war on Chicago," Johnson continued. "The Trump administration must end this war against Americans. The Trump administration must end its attempt to dismantle our democracy."

Johnson has directed Chicago agencies and departments to identify spaces within the next five days that have been targeted during ICE raids and post a clear message to federal immigration officers that the city-owned property would not be used for immigration enforcement, including as a staging area, processing location or operations base. -Fox News

The move follows a Monday lawsuit from Gov. JB Pritzker attempting to block the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops in Chicago. 

Johnson accused the "extreme right" of refusing to accept the results of the Civil War (!?) when slavery - a Democrat thing - was abolished. 

"They have repeatedly called for a rematch, but in the coming weeks, we will use this opportunity to build greater resistance. Chicagoans are clear that militarizing our troops in our city as justification to further escalate a war in Chicago will not be tolerated," he said.

"The right wing in this country wants a rematch of the Civil War," Johnson continued. 

BREAKING - Brandon Johnson has just illegally established “ICE-free zones” across Chicago to prevent federal agents from enforcing the law, just days after ICE was pinned down by armed rioters and Chicago PD was blocked from assisting them. pic.twitter.com/2smGLfuw24

— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) October 6, 2025

Johnson said that Chicago would "not tolerate ICE agents violating our residents’ constitutional rights," or the Trump administration's "disregard" for state and local authority, Fox News reports. 

"With this executive order, Chicago stands firm in protecting the constitutional rights of our residents and immigrant communities and upholding our democracy," he continued, adding "If the federal government violates this executive order, we will take them to court." 

On Sunday, Pritzker said that he would refuse to comply with the Trump administration's "ultimatum" to deploy Illinois National Guard troops - calling it "absolutely outrageous and unamerican." 

"We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s invasion," Pritzker continued. 

After Pritzker refused to deploy Illinois troops, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott authorized Trump to use 400 Texas National Guard members for deployment in Illinois and Oregon. 

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 14:55

"We Are Not Messing Around": More Than 8,600 People Arrested In FBI Campaign Targeting Violent Crimes

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and its partners have arrested 8,629 individuals across the United States as part of its “Summer Heat” campaign, the agency said in an Oct. 2 statement.

FBI Director Kash Patel testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on Sept. 17, 2025. Win McNamee/Getty Images

More than 6,500 out of the 8,629 arrests fell under the FBI’s Violent Crime and Gang program, said the agency.

“We are not messing around,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Our No. 1 mission is crushing violent crime. If you hurt a child, we’re coming for you. If you jack a car, we’re coming for you. If you’re polluting our neighborhoods with deadly drugs, we’re coming for you.”

Investigators looking into violent crimes against children located or identified 1,053 minor victims as part of Summer Heat. In addition, authorities have seized 2,281 weapons, 98,000 pounds of cocaine, and 928 pounds of fentanyl.

The operations took place between June 24 and Sept. 20, with all 55 FBI field offices contributing to the offensive, the FBI said.

In one operation, the agency targeted violent offenders in four cities—Baton Rouge and New Orleans in Louisiana; Memphis in Tennessee; and Miami in Florida—leading to the arrests of 417 individuals and seizing 159 firearms.

“We are grateful for Director Kash Patel and our brave FBI agents who removed more than 8,600 violent offenders from our streets this summer,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

“Under President [Donald] Trump’s directive to make America safe again, this Department of Justice will continue prosecuting violent crime and dismantling criminal gangs who are wreaking havoc in our communities.”

In an Oct. 3 statement, FBI Dallas said it captured several criminals over the past three months, which included the arrests of Ten Most Wanted Fugitive Cindy Rodriguez Singh and Cesar Pascual Orozco.

“Under Operation Summer Heat, FBI Dallas collaborated with our law enforcement partners to apprehend fugitives, seize drugs and firearms, and arrest child predators. We remain committed to protecting our North Texas communities from violent crime,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock.

The FBI’s stats come as the Trump administration has taken numerous steps to tackle violent crime in various American cities.

In August, Trump federalized D.C.’s policing. On Sept. 9, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that law enforcement had arrested 2,177 individuals in the nation’s capital since then.

Trump has also ordered federal agents to assist state and local officials in Tennessee, with the federal crackdown leading to 153 arrests in Memphis in four days since Monday.

Meanwhile, Trump signed a memorandum on Sept. 25, ordering the attorney general to fully implement the death penalty in the District of Columbia.

In a Sept. 25 statement, Free DC, a movement for self-determination rights in Washington, criticized the measure and accused Trump of wanting to “spread fear” via the death penalty decision.

“His actions are not about safety, they are only about him consolidating power,” Free DC said.

“This is yet another reminder that D.C. needs full power over our justice system—permanently. We need statehood now. Not tomorrow, not in four years. Now.”

The administration is also cracking down on illegal immigrant crimes. On Oct. 3, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the arrests of more than 1,000 illegal immigrants under Operation Midway Blitz, which targets illegal immigrant criminals in Illinois.

The agency said the arrested individuals include the “worst of the worst,” such as child abusers, pedophiles, gang members, and kidnappers.

“President Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem will not allow continued violence or repeat offenders to terrorize our neighborhoods and victimize our children,” said DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin. “Operation Midway Blitz is making Illinois safe again.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 14:35

Details Leak On OpenAI's Secretive Wearable Device, Plagued By Major Issues

A Financial Times investigation reveals that OpenAI's ambitious wearable AI project, created in partnership with renowned designer Jony Ive, whose work defined Apple's aesthetic for decades, is encountering substantial roadblocks as it attempts to bring the concept to market. Making dystopian AI wearables is harder than it looks.

Former Apple designer Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (Lia Toby/BFC/Getty Images, Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images) 

The device takes an unconventional approach by eliminating screens entirely, instead packaging cameras, microphones, and speakers into a pocket-sized format comparable to contemporary smartphones. Conceived as a creepy ever-present digital partner, it would passively collect information from its surroundings to facilitate ongoing dialogue with users, echoing the design philosophy behind Humane's AI Pin, which, if you recall, didn't exactly set the world on fire.

Beyond keeping details under wraps, OpenAI is wrestling with fundamental technical and design dilemmas. Despite securing massive funding rounds that would make a small nation jealous, the company faces computational constraints that limit the device's capabilities. More unexpectedly, internal debates over the assistant's behavioral characteristics have become a major sticking point. Engineers are caught in a delicate balancing act: the device must offer meaningful input for daily decisions without becoming that insufferably chipper friend who won't stop offering unsolicited advice.

This personality calibration problem isn't new territory for OpenAI. Earlier iterations of its AI models developed reputations for being excessively agreeable. The AI giant also worries about scenarios where the assistant enters repetitive loops during routine activities, which would be about as useful as a GPS that keeps recalculating the same route.

To make matters worse, legal complications further cloud the project's prospects. In June, iyO, an audio technology startup backed by Google, filed a trademark lawsuit challenging OpenAI's use of the "io" branding after the company's $6.5 billion acquisition of Ive's startup in May 2025. The plaintiff argues that "io"—shorthand for "input/output"—creates consumer confusion with its own "audio computer" earpiece product, particularly given that OpenAI leadership, including Sam Altman, had previously examined iyO's technology firsthand.

Awkward.

A federal judge has since issued a temporary restraining order compelling OpenAI to scrub all "io" references from public-facing platforms and marketing content. OpenAI dismisses the lawsuit as baseless and insists the legal dispute won't derail either the acquisition or ongoing product development.

We'll see about that.

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 14:15

Today, in the Real Estate Newsletter: Asking Rents Mostly Unchanged Year-over-year

Brief excerpt:

Another monthly update on rents.

Tracking rents is important for understanding the dynamics of the housing market. Slower household formation and increased supply (more multi-family completions) has kept asking rents under pressure.

More recently, immigration policy has become a negative for rentals.

Apartment List: Asking Rent Growth -0.8% Year-over-year ...

The national median rent dipped by 0.4% in September, and now stands at $1,394. This was the second consecutive month-over-month decline, as we’ve now entered the rental market’s off-season. It’s likely that we’ll continue to see further modest rent declines through the remainder of the year.

Realtor.com: 25th Consecutive Month with Year-over-year Decline in Rents

In August 2025, the U.S. median rent recorded its 25th consecutive year-over-year decline. Rent for 0–2 bedroom properties across the 50 largest metropolitan areas dropped by 2.2% compared to the previous year, with the median asking rent at $1,713—just $5 lower than the prior month.

There is much more in the article.

Illinois Sues Trump Admin to Halt National Guard Deployment; FBI Arrests Border Patrol Ramming Suspects

By Matthew Vadum of Epoch Times

The state of Illinois filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Oct. 6 in a bid to halt the federal government from deploying National Guard troops to Chicago.

The state is arguing in the new legal complaint filed in federal district court in Illinois that the federal government has no legal authority to intervene in the state’s law enforcement efforts.

“The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor. To guard against this, foundational principles of American law limit the president’s authority to involve the military in domestic affairs. Those bedrock principles are in peril,” the lawsuit states.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said on Oct. 5 that President Donald Trump was directing 400 Texas National Guard members to Illinois, Oregon, and other states amid federal immigration enforcement operations.

Pritzker described the deployment as “Trump’s Invasion.”

“There is no reason a President should send military troops into a sovereign state without their knowledge, consent, or cooperation,” the governor said.

FBI Arrests Vehicle Ramming Suspects

Meanwhile, the FBI arrested two people who allegedly drove vehicles into federal officials near Chicago, FBI Director Kash Patel announced on Sunday evening.

In a statement on X, the FBI director said that two individuals “have been charged for assaulting federal officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon.”

“Attack our law enforcement, and this FBI will find you and bring you to justice,” he wrote.

FBI Director Kash Patel testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation" on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 16, 2025. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

While Patel did not name the suspects who were arrested, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois said in court documents that Marimar Martinez, 30, and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, 21, were “charged in federal court with using their vehicles to assault, impede, and interfere with the work of federal agents in Chicago.”

“After striking the agents’ vehicle, the defendants’ vehicles boxed in the agents’ vehicle,” the office said in its documents, adding that the “agent was unable to move his vehicle and exited the car, at which point he fired approximately five shots from his service weapon at Martinez.”

Martinez, who was allegedly armed with a semiautomatic weapon, drove off, but paramedics found her at a repair shop about a mile away from the scene, according to the office. An ambulance took her to a hospital, where her gunshot wounds were treated.

According to the criminal complaint released by the Justice Department, three Border Patrol agents were carrying out an operation in Oak Lawn, Illinois—a suburb of Chicago—and were followed by Ruiz and Martinez.

The two are accused of pursuing the federal agents’ vehicles and running stop signs and lights, and causing an agent to lose control of a government vehicle after they allegedly rammed their vehicle into it.

After the government vehicle stopped, the agents emerged before Martinez allegedly drove the vehicle at the agents, causing one to fire shots at her, the complaint stated.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement on Oct. 4 that it was forced to deploy special operations in Chicago.

The DHS accused Martinez and Ruiz of being “domestic terrorists” after the incident.

“The scene became increasingly violent as more domestic terrorists gathered and began throwing smoke, gas, rocks, and bottles at DHS law enforcement. Another domestic terrorist was arrested for assaulting CBP at the scene,” the agency said, accusing local Illinois officials of refusing to “allow local police to help secure the scene.”

On Sunday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who has been critical of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations in Chicago, said the White House will be deploying 300 National Guard members to his state.

The National Guard, he added, is being sourced from Texas.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed this in a post on X.

“No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate,” Pritzker said in a statement.

“We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion. It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops.”

The Epoch Times contacted the FBI and an attorney representing Martinez for comment. It was not immediately clear whether Ruiz had legal representation.

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 11:35

Wall Street Slaughtered On Its Consensus Yen Long As Traders Position for Much More Losses Versus Dollar

After this weekend's victory of Japan's first soon-to-be-female Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi - which came as a shock to everyone with Goldman saying that "virtually no one—including media, political analysts, opposition parties, and even LDP insiders—had expected this result" - no one perhaps... except our readers whom we told she will be the next Japanese prime minister one month ago - Bloomberg reports that short-term yen sentiment underwent its biggest bearish repricing since late July as the currency hits a two-month low in the spot market.

As BBG FX strategist Vassilis Karamanis writes, pro-stimulus lawmaker Sanae Takaichi’s near-certain elevation as Japan’s next prime minister took traders by surprise, and options show a rush to own downside exposure in the yen, despite its already steep decline which sent it to the lowest level since early August and, prior to that, since February.

Indeed, the one-week risk reversals in USDJPY rally to 44bps, calls over puts, after trading by 22bps in favor of the yen earlier. This is the third most bearish reading in the past three years.

As Karamanis notes, it’s a common picture across the pair’s vol skew which shifts higher across tenors this morning. The largest move is seen on the two-week tenor where risk reversals are heading for their strongest close in favor of the greenback since Sept. 2022

Understandably, all of Wall Street has been wrongfooted on the move: recall not long ago we showed that the most consensus trade across all of Wall Street's trading desks was to be short the dollar (and hence long various G7 pairs like the Yen). 

Favorite trades:

Goldman: short dollar
Morgan Stanley: short dollar
Deutsche Bank: short dollar
JPMorgan: short dollar

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 7, 2025

And sure enough, all those banks made a long yen trade the centerpiece of their USD hate and loathing... until last night, when bank after bank were stopped out. 

Here is Deutsche Bank's George Saravelos, who from biggest dollar bull became one of the biggest dollar bears on Wall Street, and now his clients are not too happy with that reversal. From his note published overnight:

We went long JPY in our FX Blueprint but are now getting out following the LDP election outcome this weekend. Sanae Takaichi’s surprise victory reintroduces too much uncertainty around Japan’s policy priorities and the timing of the BoJ hiking cycle. 

There is agreement that inflation is a problem in Japan, but uncertainty is now going up again on how it will be dealt with. We have written at length about the growing political recognition of inflation as a problem - one which has contributed to LDP’s losses in recent elections. Takaichi has acknowledged the need to prioritize measures to counter inflation and has avoided repeating comments from 2024 that the BoJ would be unwise to hike. But her stance on addressing inflation still looks different from traditional policy prescriptions. We note she has: (1) argued that inflation in Japan is more cost-push than demand-pull; (2) emphasized fiscal relief over monetary policy to address price pressures and not ruled out cuts to the consumption tax; (3) noted that the government and BoJ should work closely together; (4) floated a plan to broaden the coalition, which could bring in more dovishly inclined parties like the DPP. The JPY has struggled to capitalize on the Fed repricing story in recent months, and we have argued BoJ hikes would be an important catalyst to watch for. The increased uncertainty around the timing of the next hike leads us to retreat to neutral position on the JPY.

We are turning neutral the JPY awaiting greater clarity. We still see the case for eventual BoJ tightening, a decline in USD hedging costs, extreme undervaluation, and repatriation into Japanese assets as being important drivers of a medium-term JPY view. But these positive catalysts seem to be lacking right now given the political surprise. And without them, fighting the negative carry of being long JPY is too hard. We will be actively watching the shape of the Cabinet, coalition and policy priorities to guide our JPY view from here.

Here is Goldman's FX strategist Michael Cahill closing out his short USDJPY trade at a 230 pip loss (full note here).

Sanae Takaichi’s surprise victory in the LDP leadership election and the little premium priced into FX going into the event leaves scope for a quick reset higher in USD/JPY of +1.5-2% in the early trading hours, with elevated two-way risk thereafter as markets assess the likely policy path ahead.

In our economists’ base case, we expect only modest changes to the fiscal stance and no change to our modal path for the BoJ. This argues that much of the new fiscal risk premium should fade, similar to the market’s eventual assessment following the Upper House election and PM Ishida’s subsequent resignation. However, with Takaichi in power, and some of these things likely to take at least a few months to become clear, we expect the market impact to also be more durable this time.

For some time, we have been making the case that global risk sentiment should be more important than domestic developments for the direction of the Yen, and that is still the case. However, it seems likely that domestic developments will add another headwind to Yen performance. We see upside risks to our USD/JPY forecasts and are closing our trade recommendation to go short USD/JPY (initiated at 147.69).

Going down the list: UBS, Citi, MS, etc... everyone. And so the penguins turn. All else equal we would have said this is the time to close out on our long-standing yen short position which is now drowning in positive carry, but we are confident the currency will keep falling until at least 160 before the BOJ steps in. After all, Japan's exports are plunging and the economy is on the verge of another recession which means there is just one way to kickstart it: crush the currency and send stocks soaring, aka old faithful. 

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 11:12

Supreme Court Rejects Ghislaine Maxwell's Appeal For Sex Trafficking Minors

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal to overturn her 2022 conviction for sex trafficking minors with Jeffrey Epstein.

Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, had sought to overturn her conviction on the grounds that she was unlawfully prosecuted. She filed her appeal three days after meeting with a top Trump DOJ official tapped to re-examine the Epstein case. 

Now it's down to a Trump pardon - after the President said in late July that he hadn't considered, but won't rule out, a pardon for his former Palm Beach associate. 

Trump supporters have suggested that Maxwell, a British former socialite and daughter of alleged Mossad spy Robert Maxwell (Ghislaine has denied Epstein was running a honeypot operation to entrap elites) - could be the key to exposing a list of powerful Epstein clients. Then, when Trump started acting all weird about it - calling the list a 'Democrat hoax' - a fracture formed within MAGA, as supporters were counting on Trump to release 'the list,' not act like he's on it. 

Maxwell's legal team is crestfallen.

"We're, of course, deeply disappointed that the Supreme Court declined to hear Ghislaine Maxwell's case," her attorney, David Oscar Markus, said in a statement provided to Axios. "But this fight isn't over."

"Serious legal and factual issues remain," he said, "and we will continue to pursue every avenue available to ensure that justice is done."

Maxwell claimed in her appeal that she was wrongly prosecuted because she's covered by a 2007 sweetheart non-prosecution deal negotiated with the US Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Florida. According to said agreement, the US "agrees that it will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to" four other suspects. 

Maxwell was not listed as one of those suspects, however her lawyers claim she didn't need to be. 

The DOJ, meanwhile, has argued that the former US Attorney who negotiated the deal, Alex Acosta, didn't have the authority to bind federal districts - including the Southern District of New York, where Maxwell was tried and convicted.

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 10:54

"Freedom" Shirts Reportedly Banned In Kansas Elementary Public School

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

An elementary school in Kansas has raised a novel question under the First Amendment: whether the freedom of speech includes the right to use the word “freedom.” According to some media reports, Arbor Creek Elementary Principal Melissa Snell stopped the wearing of shirts reading “Freedom,” which have become popular after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The move is clearly a violation under the First Amendment, in my view.

Libs of TikTok posted an email exchange between Arbor Creek Elementary Principal Melissa Snell and an (unnamed) individual in which Snell confirmed the ban. The email stated: “I just want to make sure that you have told your staff to not wear those ‘Freedom’ shirts to school anymore. Thank you.”

Snell allegedly responded: “Yes, I have. Was there someone in particular that you are referring to? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Our crackerjack investigatory unit at Res Ipsa was able to find that person for Snell from what appears to be video of students of Arbor Creek:

Notably, the Olathe Public Schools district itself sells “We All Belong Together” shirts via its Department of Culture and Belonging. However, “Freedom” shirts were banned, at least temporarily.

Deputy Superintendent Lachelle Sigg wrote to the school community that the district “remain[s] committed to […] honoring all first amendment rights and ensuring that personal expression does not disrupt the educational setting.”

If so, that commitment is more rhetorical than actual.

Superintendent Brent Yeager confirmed the emails that Libs of TikTok had posted earlier in the week, but suggested that it was temporary as Snell “reviewed district practices.”

I fail to see why Snell had to suspend the wearing of such shirts pending review. This is clearly a content-based limitation on speech.

In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), the Supreme Court upheld the right of students to wear armbands protesting the Vietnam War, famously writing, “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

This does not involve the type of “lewd,” “vulgar,” “indecent,” or “plainly offensive” speech discussed in cases such as Bethel School District v. Fraser (1986). It is a statement of solidarity between the freedom of speech, a statement made more poignant and urgent with the murder of Kirk for exercising that right.

It is also not a celebration of unlawful conduct, as in Morse v. Frederick (2007), as opposed to the exercise of our most “Indispensable Right.”

It is a good thing that Joseph Cinqué did not try to enroll at Arbor Creek Elementary:

*  *  *

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of the bestselling book “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 10:40

WaPo Admits Internal DC Police Scandal Over Manipulated Crime Stats

Five weeks ago, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller announced that there was an ongoing DOJ investigation into whether Washington D.C. officials manipulated crime statistics - calling it a "massive scandal." 

Specifically, Miller said:

"There's even accusations that murders and homicides were reported as accidents."

See 55 second mark:

BREAKING: Stephen Miller just said that the DOJ is working on exposing how Democrat controlled cities have been MANIPULATING crime data!

"When we ultimately share the results, it will STUN you!"

"There are even accusations that m*rders and homIcides were reported as accidents… pic.twitter.com/izRxYynIRz

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) August 25, 2025

One day after Miller's late-August announcement, National Police Association spox Betsy Smith told ABC4 News in a little-noticed report that "Commanders and supervisors were having the initial responding officers write the report differently than what they were called to, or different than what they physically saw on the scene."

And while the DC Police Department has been run by Democrats for decades - frustrated cops have been talking to the DOJ and have receipts, presented with a bow by D.C. Police Union Chairman Greggory Pemberton. Read on... 

Greggory Pemberton, chairman of the D.C. Police Union (Photo: Michael A. McCoy via The Washington Post)

On Sunday, the Washington Post revealed internal accusations that "managers were recording serious crimes as more minor ones to make their police districts appear safer or avoid the ire of top department brass" - and that officers and supervisors 'clashed' over "whether an offense was a robbery or a theft, or whether a weapon used in an assault qualified as potentially deadly."

The frustrated officers "kept lists, documenting cases where they believed a higher-up improperly classified a crime as a lesser offense," with one noting 150 such instances in March of 2024 alone in which staff in the Southeast D.C. police district believed offenses were in appropriately classified. 

"The police department is playing fast and loose with how they report their data so that they can report favorably to the citizens about crime, and I don’t think it’s fair to the city," said Pemberton - who's been assisting the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans with 'information compiled by officers.'

So, a group of pissed off cops within the DC police department have been fighting with superiors and keeping notes over misclassified crimes, and kept notes. Now they're working with the feds to blow the lid. Or as WaPo puts it - "found a receptive audience."

We're sure the galaxy brains over at FactCheck.org are getting right on that correction after saying President Trump 'wrongly' claimed that his DC crackdown resulted in 11 days with no murders, the "first time that’s taken place in years." They of course make no mention of the DOJ / Congressional investigation Miller announced two days earlier. 

And of course, a July report by NBC Washington that MPD District 3 Commander Michael Pulliam was suspended and placed under investigation for allegedly manipulating crime data - however Stephen Miller said it was being done "on a widespread basis" - so more than just that sacrificial lamb.

WaPo Spin

Of course this Sunday night report is all about frontrunning the DOJ release - and narrative control. Such as that it could have simply been an initial lack of evidence - writing that "Criminologists say [zh: wait for it] classifying crimes is an often subjective and evolving process: Incidents can be redefined as investigators uncover more evidence, and disagreements don’t necessarily point to corruption." And who's the one criminologist they cited? "Alexis Piquero, a criminologist at the University of Miami who led the Bureau of Justice Statistics during the Biden administration," who "cautioned against jumping to conclusions that D.C. police were purposefully concealing violent crimes."

Right, yes. 

Recall that during the 2024 election, Democrats insisted that crime had fallen under the Biden administration, contrary to your lying eyes. They smugly pointed to FBI crime stats published in 2023 by Biden's FBI - showing that the nation's violent crime rate had fallen in 2022 by 1.7%. Leftist pundits and academics alike used it for a collective 'ackchyually' whenever Trump and his allies would point out the rampant crime gripping Democrat-run cities.

Psst you still have time to delete this one, like you do most of your others. https://t.co/DoUx7FT3mp

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 5, 2025

Then, in the home stretch of the election when Trump was clearly ahead (and before Kash Patel could go 'Ah-ha!'), the 2022 figures were revised - revealing that crime had actually increased by 4.5% in 2022. This textbook Ministry of Truth 'correction' was uncovered by John Lott Jr. and published Oct. 16. 

Amazing...

EXPOSED: This is how Democrats keep crime data down

- DC Police Commander placed on leave, it was discovered he directed officers to downgrade felony reports and alter crime classification
- Charges like felony assault, shootings and stabbings were downgraded
- Just before the… pic.twitter.com/PpciHymHEu

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) October 6, 2025

False reporting has been happening at a very large scale

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 5, 2025

 

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 10:20

AMD Soars Most In Nearly A Decade On OpenAI Chip Deal; Semiconductor Index Hits Record High

Update (1005ET):

At the cash open, AMD shares jumped as much as 38% to new record highs following news of the OpenAI deal (see previous update for details). In fact, this intraday surge so far marks the largest share gain in nearly a decade, or about 9.5 years, dating back to the 52.3% gain on April 22, 2016.

 Record high.

Goldman analyst Peter Callahan says today is all about ...

 The deal between AMD and OpenAI sent the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index up 4%, reaching a new all-time high.

Totally not a bubble... 

*   *   *

 

The epic "circle jerk" continues (read how this works at the end of the note )...

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices surged in premarket trading after the company announced a multi-year partnership with OpenAI to roll out next-generation AI infrastructure. The first 1-gigawatt deployment of AMD Instinct MI450 GPUs is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2026.

AMD and OpenAI have signed a definitive agreement establishing AMD as a core compute partner for OpenAI.

Well, that solves it. Won't be Intel...

AMD SHARES JUMP 16% ON CHIP DEAL WITH OPENAI

Won't be intel

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 6, 2025

The partnership begins with the Instinct MI450 series and rack-scale AI solutions designed for data centers that power OpenAI's chatbots.

Here's the structure of the deal:

• Equity component: AMD granted OpenAI a warrant for up to 160 million AMD shares, vesting with deployment and performance milestones tied to capacity expansion (1 GW → 6 GW), AMD share-price thresholds, and OpenAI rollout goals.

AMD CFO Jean Hu said in a statement, "Our partnership with OpenAI is expected to deliver tens of billions of dollars in revenue for AMD while accelerating OpenAI's AI infrastructure buildout," adding, "This agreement creates significant strategic alignment and shareholder value for both AMD and OpenAI and is expected to be highly accretive to AMD's non-GAAP earnings-per-share."

"This partnership is a major step in building the compute capacity needed to realize AI's full potential," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated. He noted, "AMD's leadership in high-performance chips will enable us to accelerate progress and bring the benefits of advanced AI to everyone faster."

AMD shares in New York jumped as much as 25%.

What this also means is that despite the now explicit backing (and investment) of the White House, Intel failed to win this deal which makes it clear who the real Alphas are in the chip space. Surprisingly, in a sign of brief market rationality, NVDA stock is actually lower this morning (we doubt it lasts) as AMD takes away tens if not hundreds of billions in future chip revenue from the world's largest company. 

If AMD gains hold above 23.8% (April 9, 2025) through the end of the cash session, this would mark the largest daily increase since the 52.3% jump on April 22, 2016. 

Related, and a must-read (spoiler alert: some of the nation's top data center financiers weren't too happy we called it a "circle jerk" ): The Stunning Math Behind The AI Vendor Financing "Circle Jerk"

*OPENAI SIGNS AMD CHIPS DEAL WORTH TENS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS

it's called a daily circle jerk because it's daily https://t.co/ULqRYTJ8l0

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 6, 2025

. . . 

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 10:05

The Cold, Hard Airport-Floor Truth

By Michael Every of Rabobank

There is some irony that this Global Daily author, who has written about geopolitical events such as drone incursions into Europe regularly, was trapped in Munich airport on Friday night by what were reportedly military reconnaissance drones; had to sleep on the floor with 3,500 stranded souls like a scene from a zombie movie; was rerouted via other destinations so the door-to-door journey was 42 hours; and had his suitcase lost by the airline on the way out AND on the way back. However, it underlines anyone thinking current life is ‘normal’ is living in a bubble.

Europe, for all its talk, seemingly has no way of dealing with these drones. Whose are they? We don’t know. Why are they not being shot down when spotted - a lack of ammo or a lack of will? We don’t know. Given that the plan for an EU ‘drone wall’ was shot down immediately as unworkable --which it is given the scale of territory involved-- what is workable and allows people to work? Logically, without a plan we can expect more flights to be disrupted, with a growing economic impact.

Meanwhile, the world around us is in equal flux - but with some plans, both good and bad.

President Trump told CNN that Hamas faces “complete obliteration” if it refuses to cede power in Gaza, saying he’ll “soon know” if the group is serious about peace. Negotiators meet in Egypt today, so fingers crossed. Trump also reportedly Israeli PM Netanyahu to “take the win” and not to always be “so f***ing negative.” Either more massive violence or a sudden peace looms there – and both could prove transformative. Europe is merely an observer either way.  

There are unsubstantiated reports that China is providing Russia with satellite information to allow it to make missile strikes in Ukraine. Would that be a red line for Europe, or do European red lines there echo those of its policy over drone incursions?

pic.twitter.com/pkpmtkldgz

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 5, 2025

The recent 100,000 SIM card plot to disrupt telecoms in New York around the UN general assembly was even larger than thought, says the US ABC, as it included New Jersey. Despite this being something which only a state would be capable of doing, and which only a few states would have even attempted, it isn’t being mentioned much by the media, either in the US or Europe.

Latin America remains on edge as the US Monroe Doctrine returns in force to push back against entrenched Russian, Iranian, Hamas/Hezbollah, and Chinese influence and whispers are that a move against Venezuela looms. Europe thinks an FTA with Mercosur is some kind of answer.

In Africa, ‘Trump’s peace hopes for Rwanda-Congo face threats’, says The Hill. Other locations also look concerning.

In domestic politics, the FT reports “enormous fear” given Trump’s threats against Soros and the non-profits sector, while a judge temporarily blocked the president from sending National Guard troops to Oregon.

In France, as he appoints new government ministers, PM Lecornu “tries to save skin by ruling out use of constitutional backdoor”, according to Politico; that’s as EU Commission President Von der Leyen faces another EU parliament confidence vote debate today.

In the UK, the government is considering banning repeat public protests; foreigners will be banned from claiming benefits, says the opposition Tory party, following the lead of Reform UK and Trump; yet Reform is seen likely to raise Kent council tax after its cost-cutting drive faltered, says the FT, showing there may be no way to cut spending in the UK, like the US, with the looming November national budget all about how much taxes rise, and on whom.

Japan’s first female PM, Sanae Takaichi, has already seen equities soar and 40-year bond yields do the same. She is seen as an Abe- or Trump-like figure, but with inflation now back, the BOJ slowly hiking, and the Yen nearly double the level vs the US dollar that it was when Abe launched his ‘three arrows’ well over a decade ago -- and the US unhappy about currency devaluations-- to say nothing about Japan’s domestic political dynamic, what is the plan?

In geoeconomics, it’s clearly protectionism and barter to avoid the weaponization of the US-centric financial system. For example, ‘China hawks grow queasy over Trump’s push for deals with Beijing’, says Bloomberg; ‘“Worse than Trump’s tariffs”: EU steel protections poised to pummel British industry’, adds Politico; ‘Chinese cars for Iranian metals: how sanctions revived barter trade’, notes Bloomberg; and ‘How China secretly pays Iran for oil and avoids US sanctions’, from the WSJ shows a “Hidden arrangement secured by prominent Chinese insurer connects Tehran with its biggest customer”.

Put that all together and we see that ‘America is now one big bet on AI’ (FT) as “It’s seen as the magic fix for every threat to the US economy.” Indeed, ‘Elon Musk Gambles Billions in Memphis to Catch Up on AI’, says WSJ, where “the city is divided over the massive power and water demands.” China is obviously all in in its own way. Naturally, the ‘EU pushes new AI strategy to reduce tech reliance on US and China’ (FT), with a plan for “digital sovereignty” – just without any of its own AI giants or the cheap energy needed to power it, and alongside rearmament and other acronymic wish-lists.

As a senior Wall Street figure just noted current AI mania only had bubble-like qualities, one might say what we currently have instead is merely ‘sparkling malinvestment’. Yet looked at politically, AI is a double-or-quits bet on a way to get us out of our current structural morass -- while destabilizing society in the process, warn some. And looked at geopolitically, it’s about the military: get military AI working properly and all bets are off. In fact, if one were deeply cynical one could argue regulators are happy to overlook wild market pricing at the moment in the pursuit of a private sector driven Manhattan Project.

Trying to some things up, Foreign Affairs magazine just published ‘Reading Schmitt in Beijing’, which argues the US drift away from both neoliberalism and liberalism mirrors its focus on China. Indeed, and that’s something I’d predicted as far back in late 2017: clearly think tanks and academics aren’t about their speed of thought.

Markets, once they finally get the gist of something, act much faster. For example, the main FT headline at the time of writing was all about gold: ‘‘Gold-plated Fomo’ powers bullion’s record-breaking rally’, as “Price has rocketed nearly 50% this year, its best performance since 1979, as institutional investors pile in”. Bitcoin is also back a fresh record high. I wonder why – and it isn’t all about “rate cuts!”, even if they do play a role in it.

Really, there’s nothing like a forced night’s sleep on a cold, hard airport floor to sharpen your focus on how the world actually works right now. If you still aren’t seeing it yourself, I suspect you may also get to experience it, or its equivalent, in the not-too-distant future.

Pack a spare blanket and toothbrush.  

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 10:00

Today, in the Real Estate Newsletter: October ICE Mortgage Monitor: "Home Prices Firm" in September, Up 1.2% Year-over-year

Brief excerpt:

House Prices Up 1.2% Year-over-year

Here is the year-over-year in house prices according to the ICE Home Price Index (HPI). The ICE HPI is a repeat sales index. ICE reports the median price change of the repeat sales. The index was up 1.2% year-over-year in September, up from 1.0% YoY in August.

• Annual home price growth re-accelerated in early September following eight consecutive months of slowing ‒ rising to +1.2% from a revised +1.0% in August – as falling inventory met improved affordability from easing mortgage rates

• On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices rose by +0.17% in the month, equivalent to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) of +2.1%, suggesting the annual home price growth rate may tick modestly higher in coming months

• The bulk of the firming occurred among single family residences, which are up +1.5% from the same time last year, an increase from +1.3% in August

• The condo market remains soft, with prices down -1.8% from the same time last year, a modest improvement from -1.9% in August

• Only 20% of markets saw prices fall on a seasonally adjusted basis in September, the fewest in nine months and down from 55% just two months prior

There is much more in the article.

Top Supreme Court Cases To Watch As Justices Reconvene

Authored by Sam Dorman and Stacy Robinson via The Epoch Times,

The Supreme Court is set to return on Oct. 6 for its 2025–2026 term, in which it will consider a series of cases that could affect major constitutional issues and impact President Donald Trump’s agenda.

The high court is expected to hear challenges to Trump’s policies and has already decided to hear arguments over Trump’s tariffs and attempts to fire high-level officials.

The Supreme Court will also consider whether states can ban men from playing in women’s sports, whether a ban on so-called conversion therapy violates free speech rights, and a variety of election-related cases that could affect the balance of political power in the United States.

Here are the top cases so far this term and what is at stake in each.

1. Trump’s Tariffs

In perhaps the most anticipated case this term, the high court will decide on the legality of a large swath of Trump’s tariffs.

Trump invoked an emergency powers law to impose reciprocal tariffs on almost all countries, as well as levies on Canada, Mexico, and China over the trafficking of fentanyl into the United States.

Several federal courts have ruled that those tariffs went beyond what the law allowed.

Under the Constitution, Congress has the power to impose tariffs, and it can delegate this authority to the president.

The Trump administration argues that the law, called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, authorizes the president to impose tariffs through a provision that grants the president the power to regulate importation.

However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has pointed out that that section of the law does not explicitly use the term “tariffs.”

It blocked the tariffs, but has paused the effects of its ruling until after the Supreme Court issues its judgment.

The Supreme Court has set a consolidated oral argument for Nov. 5 in Learning Resources Inc. v. Trump and Trump v. V.O.S. Selections.

A truck carrying a shipping container at Port Newark Container Terminal in Newark, N.J., on April 10, 2025. President Donald Trump invoked an emergency powers law to impose reciprocal tariffs on almost all countries. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

2. Removal of High-Level Bureaucrats

Through a series of high-profile firings, Trump has led the federal court system to revisit a 90-year-old Supreme Court precedent. The 1935 decision in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States held that Congress can set limits on the president’s ability to remove certain officials.

So far, lower courts have pointed to this decision as a basis for reversing Trump’s firings. Many of the lower court decisions have reached the Supreme Court’s emergency docket in recent months.

Although the justices have weighed in on some of those cases, they have not offered a final ruling on how far Congress can go in limiting Trump’s removal power.

That is expected to change soon, as the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a case, Trump v. Slaughter, challenging Trump’s firing of a member of the Federal Trade Commission, Rebecca Slaughter.

That agency was also the subject of the decision in Humphrey’s Executor, which the Supreme Court has said it may be open to overruling.

In 1935, the court said Congress could restrict the president’s removal of Federal Trade Commission board members because they served a “quasi-legislative” or “quasi-judicial” role.

While the exact definitions of “executive” and “quasi-legislative” power remain uncertain, those questions will likely be central to the Supreme Court’s eventual decision.

The Supreme Court also said on Oct. 1 that it would hear oral arguments in January over Trump’s attempt to fire Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook.

Trump sent Cook a letter on Aug. 25 stating that he was removing her “for cause,” citing “sufficient reason” to believe that she had made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements. He invoked the Federal Reserve Act, which states that the president can remove a member of the board “for cause.”

Cook has argued that Trump did not cite a legally recognized “cause” and that his interpretation of the law would “destroy the Federal Reserve’s historic independence.” She has also denied the allegation of fraud.

Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook attends the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's 2025 Jackson Hole Economic Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo., on Aug. 23, 2025. Trump invoked the Federal Reserve Act to remove Cook “for cause,” citing “sufficient reason” to believe that she had made false statements on one or more mortgage agreements. Jim Urquhart/File Photo/Reuters

3. Girls Athletics

In recent years, red states have advanced legislation to ban boys’ participation in girls’ sports. Two of those states, Idaho and West Virginia, are expected to appear before the Supreme Court this term to defend the legality of their policies on that issue.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the cases after issuing another landmark decision in United States v. Skrmetti, which holds that states can ban hormone therapy or gender-altering surgeries for minors without violating the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

The high court is expected to address that same constitutional provision in the sports cases Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J.

In both cases, students are arguing that the state laws discriminate based on “transgender status” and therefore violate the Constitution.

Beyond that issue, the Supreme Court is expected to look at whether West Virginia’s ban violates a federal law known as Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.

That decades-old law bans sex-based discrimination by educational institutions that receive federal funding.

An appeals court said in 2023 that West Virginia violated Title IX.

The Trump administration, in a friend-of-the-court brief, said that the state’s policies are legally sound.

The plaintiff in the Idaho case, a college senior, has reversed course and stated an intention to not participate in women’s sports. The student has suggested that the case is therefore moot, or irrelevant, before the court.

It is unclear whether that particular case will now proceed to oral argument.

The court has not yet set a date for the hearing.

President Donald Trump, joined by female athletes, signs the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order in the White House on Feb. 5, 2025. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

4. Redistricting

After Louisiana redrew its congressional district map in 2022, a group of private citizens, along with civil rights groups, sued.

The map only contained one mostly-black district, even though that group of voters represents one-third of the state’s population.

The plaintiffs argued that this was done to dilute black voting power in Louisiana and that it violated the Voting Rights Act of 1964.

That legislation prohibits laws or policies that “deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.”

The groups won in district court.

The judge ordered the state to draw the lines again and add another mostly-black district. Louisiana did so in 2024.

A group of non-black voters then sued, arguing that the redrawing based on race discriminated against non-minority voters.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case in March but declined to issue a ruling.

Instead, the court wanted more briefs and arguments from both sides about whether creating a second mostly-minority district violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment or the 15th Amendment.

The 15th Amendment prohibits voter discrimination based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

The outcome may have implications for the 2026 midterm elections. Republicans currently hold a slim majority in the House of Representatives, and Democrats are looking to retake that chamber.

In 2022, Republicans won five out of Louisiana’s six congressional seats.

In 2024, after the new map was introduced, the GOP won four of those seats and Democrats won two.

That case will be argued again on Oct. 15.

Customers eat as they watch the election results at the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen in New Orleans on Nov. 5, 2024. In 2024, after the new Louisiana congressional district map was introduced, the GOP won four of the state's six congressional seats, one fewer than in 2022. Sandy Huffaker/AFP via Getty Images

5. Pregnancy Center’s Donor Lists

First Choice Women’s Resource Centers provides free counseling to parents experiencing unplanned pregnancies but does not perform abortions or give abortion referrals.

In late 2023, New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin accused the pregnancy center of violating the state’s Consumer Fraud Act by hiding its pro-life stance from clients but openly promoting it to its donor base.

He also accused the group of “misinformation” because it claimed to be able to reverse chemical abortions in certain circumstances.

Platkin subpoenaed First Choice’s donor records, but the organization resisted.

Donors have a right to anonymity, it stated, and should be protected from political retaliation.

First Choice filed suit to block the subpoena, alleging that New Jersey was violating its First Amendment rights, since the investigation was politically motivated.

It also argued that the subpoena violated its Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure.

What followed was a complex series of court battles, which reached the Supreme Court in May 2024.

The court then declined to halt the subpoena.

The case continued in the lower courts, and in June, the high court revisited the matter and agreed to hear arguments this fall.

6. ‘Conversion Therapy’ Ban

Colorado instituted a ban on LGBT “conversion therapy” for minors in 2019.

The law prohibits licensed therapists from attempting to “change an individual’s sexual orientation, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”

Colorado therapist Kaley Chiles, who works with youth seeking to deal with unwanted same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria, pushed back with a federal lawsuit against the state in 2022.

Protesters gather in front of the Supreme Court as the court hears a case over banning gender procedures for minors, in Washington on Dec. 4, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The suit alleges that the law is a clear violation of Chiles’s First Amendment free speech rights.

District Judge Charlotte Sweeney of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado denied Chiles’s request to overturn the law in December that year.

Sweeney wrote that the law does not directly regulate Chiles’s speech; rather, it regulates her conduct as a state-licensed therapist.

Any infringement on her speech rights is “incidental,” according to the judge.

An appeals court later upheld that decision.

Colorado is one of 27 states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, that have restricted or banned conversion therapy for minors.

If the Supreme Court sides with Chiles, it may trigger suits against those laws.

Oral arguments are set for Oct. 7.

7. Hawaii’s Gun Restrictions

The court will take up a major gun case this term, considering the constitutionality of a Hawaii law that bans firearms on private property, unless the property owner has consented.

The case cites the 2022 Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which states that firearm restrictions need to be consistent with the nation’s “history and tradition.”

Hawaii’s law states that if concealed carry permit holders want to take guns onto private property, including stores, restaurants, and hotels, they need permission, either verbally or through a sign.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the restrictions in 2024. A group of Hawaiians, along with the Hawaii Firearms Coalition, told the Supreme Court that the Ninth Circuit’s decision analyzed U.S. history, specifically previous laws, in the wrong way.

The Trump administration similarly argued that the law fell foul of the 2022 ruling.

“Because most property owners do not post signs either allowing or forbidding guns, Hawaii’s default rule functions as a near-complete ban on public carry,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in a court filing.

Hawaii has responded by defending the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, arguing that the Second Amendment does not override a property owner’s right.

“The rule can be upheld for the independent reason that it represents a valid governmental effort to vindicate property owners’ fundamental right to exclude by enacting a default rule that comports with the community’s reasonable expectations,” a brief from the state reads.

The case, Wolford v. Lopez, has not yet been scheduled for oral argument.

8. Death Penalty and IQ

In November 1997, Joseph Clifton Smith and an accomplice murdered Durk Van Dam in Mobile County, Alabama, bludgeoning him to death for $140, his shoes, and some tools.

Smith was convicted, and a jury decided that he should be executed.

But in 2002, the Supreme Court ruled in another case that mentally disabled convicts could not be executed because their mental capabilities reduce their culpability and ability to assist lawyers in trial.

Following that ruling, Smith appealed his case.

He had taken multiple IQ tests with scores ranging from 72 to 78.

In Alabama, the threshold for intellectual disability is an IQ score of less than 70.

However, since Smith’s lowest test had an error range of plus or minus three points, a psychiatrist testified that his IQ could be as low as 69, which would put him in the range to avoid execution.

Alabama's lethal injection chamber at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala., on Oct. 7, 2002. Dave Martin/AP Photo

A district judge and an appeals court agreed with this reasoning, ruling that Smith could not be executed.

Alabama challenged those rulings, arguing that the courts should have taken the full range of IQ scores into account instead of the error margin of the lowest score.

Arguments were originally set for November, but were removed from the calendar in mid-September.

The court has not yet rescheduled.

9. Campaign Spending

The controversy over money in politics is returning to the Supreme Court this term in a case regarding to what extent political parties and candidates can coordinate their spending.

Decades ago, Congress passed a law called the Federal Election Campaign Act, which imposes limits on this type of spending.

Coordinated expenditures include such activities as making payments for political consultants, renting venues for rallies, and spending money on political advertising.

In 2022, then-Senate candidate JD Vance, then-Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), and two Republican committees brought a lawsuit questioning whether those limits violated the First Amendment.

When an appeals court reviewed the case in 2024, it was sympathetic to the Republicans’ arguments but said its hands were tied because of a previous Supreme Court decision that backed the idea that Congress could regulate coordinated expenditures without violating the First Amendment.

Republicans argue that the 2001 decision in Federal Election Commission v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee left some room for challenges based on the First Amendment.

They also contend that the government lacked a legitimate basis for imposing the limits.

Audience members watch the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate at the University of Colorado's Events Center in Boulder, Colo., on Oct. 28, 2015. The Federal Election Campaign Act, which imposes limits on coordinated expenditures by political parties and candidates, was challenged in 2022 by a lawsuit questioning whether those limits violated the First Amendment. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Federal Election Commission, which the Republicans are suing, has similarly criticized the law, so the Supreme Court has appointed another attorney to defend the lower court decision.

Oral arguments in the case, National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission, have not yet been set.

10. Defense Contractor Liability

On Nov. 3, the Supreme Court is expected to consider whether defense contractors can be sued for liability over terrorist attacks in foreign countries. The case is Hencely v. Fluor Corp.

An Afghanistan veteran named Winston Hencely was critically injured in a 2016 suicide bombing. The terrorist attack occurred on a U.S. military base and was committed by the Afghan employee of a contractor who worked on the base.

An Army investigation found that the contractor, Fluor Corp., failed to properly supervise the bomber.

Hencely lost on the appeals level because of the court’s interpretation of the Federal Tort Claims Act, which generally shields the government from liability under certain circumstances.

One of those circumstances applies to the U.S. military during times of war.

Although Fluor Corp. was a contractor, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that the law’s protection for the federal government should be extended to companies such as Fluor.

U.S. Army soldiers retrieve their duffel bags after they return home from a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan at Fort Drum, N.Y., on Dec. 10, 2020. The Supreme Court is expected to consider whether defense contractors can be sued for liability over terrorist attacks in foreign countries. John Moore/Getty Images

11. Other Trump Cases

Besides the cases on Trump’s tariffs and his firing of officials, the Supreme Court may decide to weigh in on other challenges to the administration’s policies as they move up through the court system.

Many of the disputes have already reached the high court on its emergency docket, which lets the court temporarily allow or block executive actions while the case works its way through the lower courts.

As it has approached the 2025–2026 term, the Supreme Court has sent many cases back to lower courts, often allowing Trump to proceed with a particular action or policy.

For instance, it has allowed the Pentagon’s policy banning military troops with gender dysphoria, the administration’s withholding of billions of dollars in foreign aid, and deportations to third countries.

Several other cases are pending, including those challenging Trump’s plan to restrict birthright citizenship.

The Supreme Court ruled last term on procedural aspects of blocks to that policy but has yet to address underlying constitutional issues.

That could change, as the Trump administration asked the court on Sept. 26 to address whether Trump’s executive order seeking to restrict birthright citizenship is unconstitutional.

Combined, these cases present questions about the scope of executive authority and the nation’s separation of powers.

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/06/2025 - 09:20

The post Trump Is a Pathetic Joke on Healthcare, and the Media Incredibly Don’t Notice appeared first on CEPR.