Individual Economists

Ukrainian Drones Reach Western Siberia In Furthest Attack Of Entire War

Zero Hedge - October 7, 2025 - 8:30pm

Ukrainian Drones Reach Western Siberia In Furthest Attack Of Entire War

Another day, another Ukrainian long-range drone attack on energy and industrial sites deep inside Russian territory. But overnight, Kiev set a record for distance.

On Monday evening, authorities in Western Siberia's Tyumen region said they downed three drones near an industrial and oil refinery site in what marks furthest known Ukrainian drone incursion reported inside Russian territory since the start of the war.

A purported photo of the Antipinsky oil refinery in the Russian city of Tyumen in Siberia.

Tyumen residents posted videos online showing fire trucks and ambulances rushing toward the Antipinsky oil refinery, among the region’s largest, with a processing capacity of 9 million tons of crude per year.

"A prompt response from emergency services prevented a detonation. There were no casualties, explosions or fires. All enterprises in the area continue to operate normally," the Tyumen government press service said.

At least two explosions were observed, likely in the air, based on local news sources, along with mobile network disruptions in the area.

Crucially, the region is located roughly 1,240 miles (or 2,000 kilometers) from the Ukrainian border.

But it appears the inbound drones may have been intercepted before hitting any industrial site, as a regional statement said three drones were "detected and neutralized on the premises of an enterprise."

Tyumen Oblast (red), via Wiki Commons

While the question of damage to the facility remains unclear (officials have said the refinery is still operating "without interruption"), this drone attack does illustration one thing: if Ukraine gets Tomahawk missiles from allies then it will likely use them for strikes very deep in Russia, including on Moscow.

But President Trump has yet to approve this, and his latest comments were full of caution and expressive of a desire to not escalate.

Tyler Durden Tue, 10/07/2025 - 20:30

Ukrainian Drones Reach Western Siberia In Furthest Attack Of Entire War

Zero Hedge - October 7, 2025 - 8:30pm

Ukrainian Drones Reach Western Siberia In Furthest Attack Of Entire War

Another day, another Ukrainian long-range drone attack on energy and industrial sites deep inside Russian territory. But overnight, Kiev set a record for distance.

On Monday evening, authorities in Western Siberia's Tyumen region said they downed three drones near an industrial and oil refinery site in what marks furthest known Ukrainian drone incursion reported inside Russian territory since the start of the war.

A purported photo of the Antipinsky oil refinery in the Russian city of Tyumen in Siberia.

Tyumen residents posted videos online showing fire trucks and ambulances rushing toward the Antipinsky oil refinery, among the region’s largest, with a processing capacity of 9 million tons of crude per year.

"A prompt response from emergency services prevented a detonation. There were no casualties, explosions or fires. All enterprises in the area continue to operate normally," the Tyumen government press service said.

At least two explosions were observed, likely in the air, based on local news sources, along with mobile network disruptions in the area.

Crucially, the region is located roughly 1,240 miles (or 2,000 kilometers) from the Ukrainian border.

But it appears the inbound drones may have been intercepted before hitting any industrial site, as a regional statement said three drones were "detected and neutralized on the premises of an enterprise."

Tyumen Oblast (red), via Wiki Commons

While the question of damage to the facility remains unclear (officials have said the refinery is still operating "without interruption"), this drone attack does illustration one thing: if Ukraine gets Tomahawk missiles from allies then it will likely use them for strikes very deep in Russia, including on Moscow.

But President Trump has yet to approve this, and his latest comments were full of caution and expressive of a desire to not escalate.

Tyler Durden Tue, 10/07/2025 - 20:30

California County Reinstates Mask Mandate In Certain Health Care Facilities

Zero Hedge - October 7, 2025 - 8:05pm

California County Reinstates Mask Mandate In Certain Health Care Facilities

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A county health officer in California issued an order requiring masking in acute care facilities starting on Nov. 1, an order authorities attribute to rising seasonal respiratory illnesses.

People wearing protective masks walk on the street in a file photo. Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times

The mandate, which lasts until March 31 of next year, requires the use of face masks by people in acute care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, surgical and maternity centers, and infusion centers such as dialysis and chemotherapy centers, during respiratory virus season, not including patients.

“These respiratory viruses can cause serious illness, particularly in vulnerable groups such as infants, older adults, pregnant individuals, and those with weakened immune systems,” Lisa Hernandez, the Santa Cruz County public health officer, said in a statement. “This order aims to reduce the spread of these viruses and protect those most at risk from severe outcomes, including hospitalization and death.”

Santa Cruz County is located to the south of San Jose and other cities that make up Silicon Valley in California.

Last fall, officials in counties around California’s San Francisco Bay Area implemented similar mask mandates in health care facilities that lasted from Nov. 1, 2024, to April 2025.

An official in California’s Yolo County said last month that residents were advised to wear masks indoors because of COVID-19.

“Based on current wastewater levels of the virus that causes COVID-19, I recommend that everybody in West Sacramento wear a mask when they are around others in indoor public spaces,” Aimee Sisson, the Yolo County health officer, said in the statement.

The most recent data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that the rates of positive tests and emergency department visits across the United States are continuing to fall.

Positive tests fell to 6.7 percent for the week ending Sept. 27, down from 9.6 percent during the previous week, according to the data. The percentage of emergency visits for COVID-19 fell from 1 percent to 0.7 percent.

Nineteen states are experiencing “high” or “very high” levels of COVID-19, according to wastewater data reviewed by the CDC. Connecticut, Delaware, Nevada, and Utah are seeing the highest levels.

“COVID-19 activity has peaked and is declining in many areas of the country, but emergency department visits and hospitalizations are elevated nationally,” the CDC said in a separate statement.

Monitoring of wastewater also shows that the XFG variant accounts for about 85 percent of all COVID-19 cases, followed by the NB.1.8.1 variant at 7 percent. The XFG variant was deemed a “variant under monitoring” by the World Health Organization earlier this year.

Usually, the CDC releases data on COVID-19 on Fridays, but a message on the agency’s websites says that because of the ongoing government shutdown, “certain federal government activities have ceased due to a lack of appropriated funding.” No COVID-19 or respiratory virus updates were released by the CDC on its websites on Oct. 3.

“During the government shutdown, only web sites supporting excepted functions will be updated,” the CDC message said. “As a result, the information on this website may not be up to date and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries.”

Tyler Durden Tue, 10/07/2025 - 20:05

Calculated Risk on Vacation until October 21st

Calculated Risk - October 7, 2025 - 8:00pm

I'll be lost in the wilderness - with little wifi - until probably October 21st.

Best to all!

As Israelis Mourn Two Years Since Oct.7, Houthis Attack Eliat With At Least 4 Drones

Zero Hedge - October 7, 2025 - 7:40pm

As Israelis Mourn Two Years Since Oct.7, Houthis Attack Eliat With At Least 4 Drones

Tuesday marks the grim two-year anniversary of the Oct.7 terror attack by Hamas which targeted southern Israel, including the Nova music festival and several Kibbutzim, as well as Israeli military border outposts.

Coinciding with the anniversary and memorials being held across the country, Yemen's Houthis have been launching drones throughout the day on the southernmost Israeli city of Eliat, on the Red Sea.

Kibbutz home where an entire Israeli family died, via AP.

"Yet another drone launched by the Houthis in Yemen at Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat was shot down by air defenses, the military says," reports Times of Israel.

The drone was intercepted outside Israeli airspace while it was still inbound, and so there were no public alert sirens activated. "It marks the fourth Houthi drone shot down in the Eilat area within an hour," the report indicates.

The Houthis have vowed to continue such attacks so long as IDF forces continue their operations in the Gaza Strip, even though urgent peace talks are currently underway in nearby Egypt, based on President Trump's 20-point peace plan.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to join the talks Wednesday, which are happening 'indirectly' between the Israeli and Hamas sides. Hamas has said it is ready to release all remaining 48 hostages (dead and alive) - but significant hurdles remain over an array of conditions.

Meanwhile, at a moment of national mourning in Israel, hostage victims' family members are still looking for answers as to why police and military intervention took so long during the attack of Oct.7

"Where were the rescue forces? Where was the state? How come you were here for hours and no one saved," the families said in a statement, Kan public broadcaster reported.

"And yet two years later, we still have no answers. All the investigations they have presented to us are rubbing salt in the wounds and sand in the eyes of the families," they said.

This was taken at 8:38am on October 7th. It was apocalyptic. And at this moment we didn’t understand the scale of the attack. It took time to understand that Hamas had infiltrated the entire border. pic.twitter.com/EX8hCf1Wml
— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) October 7, 2025

Various political leaders in the West offered their condolences marking the day, including US Vice President JD Vance, who stated on X, "On this second anniversary of the terrible terrorist attacks of October 7, we remember all of the innocent people brutally murdered by Hamas."

"And we continue to work towards President [Donald] Trump’s plan to bring the remaining hostages home and build a lasting peace for all," he wrote further.

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) had killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages on that day two years ago. The brazen and well-planned attack even featured paragliders flying into the Nova festival grounds, where a massacre ensued in what some eyewitnesses said felt "apocalyptic". Later analysis indicated that some Israelis may have been killed by 'friendly fire' during the chaotic Israeli military response, which included deployment of helicopters and tanks.

Eerie footage. This is the moment Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel on paragliders Saturday morning. pic.twitter.com/sThsSInzas
— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) October 11, 2023

Israel's military response in Gaza has itself been brutal and overwhelming. Well over 60,000 people have died, including many tens of thousands of civilian men, women, and children. But Israel says a significant bulk of this figure is Hamas militants. Wars on other fronts have since raged - including in Lebanon, Iran, Syria, and Yemen - with the whole geopolitical landscape having shifted dramatically since Oct.7.

Tyler Durden Tue, 10/07/2025 - 19:40

Shut-Down The Shutdown Propaganda

Zero Hedge - October 7, 2025 - 7:15pm

Shut-Down The Shutdown Propaganda

Authored by Frank Miele via RealClearPolitics,

Shut it down. Shut it all down!

Not the government. I’m talking about the fake news that spent the past two weeks trying to scare average Americans into thinking that the Trump administration was coming after them – in particular by stripping them of their Obamacare subsidies.

At random, here’s a quote to demonstrate, this one from John Berman on CNN:

“This morning with the government shutdown, there’s a lot of finger-pointing going on. Democrats want to include an extension of Obamacare subsidies that expire at the end of the year. Republicans have refused to negotiate on subsidies unless Democrats first agree to a short-term resolution that would fund the government for seven weeks.”

In itself the quote is entirely accurate, but without supplying context (which the fake news media never does) it is also entirely misleading.

A casual listener or reader will assume that all Obamacare subsidies that they receive will be going away in 2026. But what’s the reality? First of all, most Americans do not get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, and so they won’t be affected at all.

Only about 22 million people have health insurance through the Obamacare marketplace. That’s out of a national population of 340 million. So right away, we are talking about only 6.5% of Americans who are affected by the policy change. And only about 2 million would lose their subsidies altogether.

But those 2 million were never supposed to be eligible for subsidies as the program was originally intended. That’s because their income is more than 400% of the federal poverty level. For 2026, that’s about $63,000 for an individual, and for a family of four, that would be almost $130,000. In Kalispell, Montana, where I live, lots of people only dream about making that much. The household median income here is about $63,000, including many families of four or more.

And they aren’t looking for handouts. Probably almost everyone who makes that much money qualifies for workplace insurance in the first place (though it may not be deemed affordable). So really, we need to ask whether it is justified for the government to kick in money to benefit people who are reasonably well off already, or whether it is just part of a Democratic scheme to make as many people as possible dependent on the government.

But that is not a question the mainstream media would ever ask. They are too busy complaining about Donald Trump’s efforts to cut government waste, fraud, and abuse; decrease crime in our cities; stop the flow of fentanyl across our borders; and send illegal immigrants home.

Ultimately, what needs to be remembered, and a fact which the mainstream media rarely discusses (but was detailed at length by RealClearInvestigations), is that the enhanced Obamacare subsidies were passed during the COVID crisis. Whether those increased subsidies were justified at the time is beside the point; what matters is that we are no longer in a COVID crisis. People are no longer sitting at home because their jobs were shut down by government mandates, and so it makes sense that enhanced subsidies are going away just like the crisis did.

And despite blanket statements like the one from John Berman quoted above, and thousands more across the media landscape, tax-credit subsidies will remain in effect for most of the people using the government marketplace as their only alternative. Affordable Care Act customers whose income is less than 400% of the federal poverty level will still get subsidies, though they will be decreased back to their original levels.

Is that unreasonable? Remember, the enhanced subsidies were intended as an emergency measure during an economic crisis. Most Republicans who voted for those additional subsidies never intended for them to continue indefinitely, and earlier this year a majority in both houses of Congress voted not to continue them past 2025.

Yet just a few months later, the Democrats are already working to turn back the clock. When they say, “never let a crisis go to waste,” they mean it, and when they passed those enhanced subsidies in 2021, they never intended for them to expire on schedule. Just like with every government program, they want it to continue forever.

Give them credit. Democrats know that health care is a wedge issue that has always worked for them. So they are using the Obamacare subsidies and Medicaid expansion as weapons against the Trump administration, and it may be working.

According to an Oct. 1 Washington Post survey, 47% of adults surveyed blame Trump and the Republicans for the government shutdown, while only 30% blame the Democrats. That despite the fact that all but one Republican in the Senate voted to fund the government, and only three Democrats did.

Why the disconnect? The same poll revealed that 71% of adults want to see the health-care subsidies extended, and only 29% want to see them ended. To me, that’s proof that the mainstream media has poisoned the well by promoting the narrative that all subsidies will be ending this year. Otherwise, there is no way that average Americans would want to see the government increase the deficit to give a special benefit to just a small class of people.

The Washington Post survey, in particular, told participants that “federal subsidies that reduce the cost of Affordable Care Act health insurance plans are scheduled to end at the end of this year.” Yes, those subsidies will end for the least needy among us, those with incomes that exceed 400% of the poverty level. But they won’t end for the most needy – they will only be reduced. Provide that information correctly to poll participants, and the result could very well shift dramatically in the other direction.

Come to think of it, isn’t informing the public the whole purpose of news media in the first place? Maybe if they got back to their original mission instead of trying to shape public opinion to benefit one party, we wouldn’t need to talk about shutting them down.

A guy can dream, can’t he?

Tyler Durden Tue, 10/07/2025 - 19:15

"Not The Taxpayers' Money!": Baltimore City Residents Furious After Leftist Mayor Rides In Luxury

Zero Hedge - October 7, 2025 - 6:50pm

"Not The Taxpayers' Money!": Baltimore City Residents Furious After Leftist Mayor Rides In Luxury

Residents in crime-ridden Baltimore City, controlled by leftists, are demanding answers after Mayor Brandon Scott received a new taxpayer-funded luxury SUV outfitted with almost every bell and whistle, including fancy lights, sirens, and a security microphone.

Fox Baltimore reports that Mayor Scott's new city-issued Jeep Grand Wagoneer costs in excess of $163,000, which includes $65,000 in upgrades.

"Not the taxpayers' money! If he wants it for himself, yeah. But not with our money," Federal Hill resident Christian Heath told the local media outlet.

Heath noted, "Our money should be for the city, the schools, the kids. Just to ride around? We don't have cars like that."

Yet, as we've learned over the years from Fox Baltimore's Chris Papst, the city's epic mismanagement and endless scandals, especially within its imploded public school system, show that throwing more money at education doesn't translate into success in math or writing.

In fact, taxpayer funds are simply lining the pockets of Democrats and their unions. The result: multiple generations of young people who never receive a proper education, their futures stolen from them.

Educational Crisis: Baltimore High School Fails To Produce A Single Proficient Math Student In Four Straight Years

Fox Baltimore spoke with other residents who agreed that the mayor should have a secure vehicle but questioned the cost of the luxury SUV.

The mayor driving around in a luxury SUV while the city experiences a population collapse to 100-year lows, continued violent crime, an exodus of businesses, opioid crisis, police shortage, backfiring criminal and social justice reform, an exodus of companies, and mounting financial woes is terrible optics for City Hall Democrats, who have navigated the city over the course of decades right into the ground.

In recent months, Mayor Scott signed off on the city's largest budget to date, totaling $4.6 billion. This new budget is double the size of what the city operated two decades ago, despite a population decline of more than 60,000 residents during that time. Baltimore's per capita spending now exceeds $7,600 per resident, surpassing cities like Boston, Atlanta, Detroit, and Chicago. This spending even outpaces the combined spending of Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Taxpayer advocate David Williams expressed serious concerns over the city's financial priorities.

"Unfortunately, this is not surprising. You look at a city that's spending billions a year on education and the system isn't getting any better," Williams said, adding, "Right now Baltimore officials think spending money is the goal. Well, it isn't."

Residents might start asking a very simple question: Does Mayor Scott serve the people of Baltimore City or the interests of globalist George Soros?

Meanwhile, Maryland's leftist Gov. Wes Moore was recently spotted half-naked on mega leftist George Clooney's luxury yacht in Italy.

Are Maryland Democrats even serving the best interests of their constituents, or pandering to billionaire liberal elites and unhinged leftists in Hollywood?

Tyler Durden Tue, 10/07/2025 - 18:50

CDC Endorses Standalone Chickenpox Vaccination For Younger Children

Zero Hedge - October 7, 2025 - 5:40pm

CDC Endorses Standalone Chickenpox Vaccination For Younger Children

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Oct. 6 stopped recommending a combination vaccine that contains a varicella component, advising a standalone shot against the disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta on May 21, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The CDC is now advising that children aged 1 receive a standalone chickenpox vaccine, its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement.

Acting CDC Director Jim O'Neill, also the deputy health secretary, made the change based on advice from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

Advisers in September said the CDC should stop recommending the measles, mumps, rubella, varicella vaccine due to data showing that younger children faced an elevated risk of febrile seizures if they received the vaccine.

Instead, children should receive the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and, separately, a chickenpox shot, the panel said in a split vote.

“The CDC child and adolescent immunization schedule’s new recommendation of standalone chickenpox vaccination for toddlers through age three follows evidence presented to ACIP by the CDC Immunization Safety Office’s that healthy 12–23 months old toddlers have increased risk of febrile seizure seven to 10 days after vaccination for the combined measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella vaccine compared to those given immunization for chickenpox separately,” the Department of Health and Human Services said.

“The combination vaccine doubles the risk of febrile seizures without conferring additional protection from varicella compared to standalone vaccination.”

The measles vaccine is mandated in nearly every state for school attendance.

The CDC’s official childhood immunization schedule has not yet been updated to reflect the change.

The schedule states that children should receive their first shot against measles around 12 months of age and a second shot sometime after turning 4 and before turning 7.

The schedule recommends that for the first dose, children younger than 4 receive the MMR vaccine and a separate varicella vaccine. However, the four-antigen combination shot “may be used if parents or caregivers express a preference,” the CDC says in schedule notes.

About 15 percent of children receive the measles, mumps, rubella, varicella shot for their first dose, according to CDC data.

A majority of advisers said a change was warranted, given the higher risk of febrile seizures.

Critics said that the change could lead to less adherence to the schedule, as children would receive one additional injection.

“The advantage of combination vaccines is that children and adults are more likely to complete the vaccine requirements if it’s given as a single dose,” Dr. Cody Meissner, professor of pediatrics at the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, and one of the advisers who voted no, said ahead of the vote.

Others said that a change could actually lead to better uptake.

“I actually believe ... less adverse events are going to increase trust and adherence,” said Retsef Levi, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the panel members who voted yes.

O'Neill on Monday also accepted advice from the panel on COVID-19 vaccines. The CDC now says that receiving a COVID-19 shot is an individual choice that should only be made after consulting with a health care professional.

Tyler Durden Tue, 10/07/2025 - 17:40

Anaheim Man Shot After Charging Cop With Shovel Outside Elementary School

Zero Hedge - October 7, 2025 - 5:20pm

Anaheim Man Shot After Charging Cop With Shovel Outside Elementary School

Bodycam and dashcam footage show a fatal September 15 confrontation in Anaheim where 36-year-old Rudy Anthony Martinez II was shot after charging an officer with a shovel outside John Marshall Elementary School, according to the NY Post.

Police say the officer responded around 12:45 p.m. to a 911 call about a man, possibly on drugs, wielding a shovel and a brick. As soon as Martinez spotted the patrol car across an intersection, he sprinted toward it, shovel raised.

Photos: NY Post

In the dashcam video, the officer exclaims “oh s–t” before even stepping out of his cruiser. Martinez immediately begins swinging, ignoring repeated commands to “sit down” and warnings of “you’re gonna get shot.”

The NY Post writes that the officer fires two warning shots, but Martinez keeps advancing. The officer then opens fire. “When the officer arrived and encountered the subject, an officer-involved shooting occurred,” Anaheim police said in a statement.

"The subject was struck by gunfire, at which point the officer began to render first aid. The subject was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced deceased approximately 30 minutes after arrival. A shovel was recovered at the scene. The officer was not injured during this incident," Anaheim PD said.

The school went into lockdown, though officials said no students witnessed the incident. After the shooting, the officer provided first aid until paramedics arrived. Martinez was taken to a hospital, where he died about 30 minutes later.

* * *

Tyler Durden Tue, 10/07/2025 - 17:20

If Mamdani Wins, The Gig (Work) Is Up

Zero Hedge - October 7, 2025 - 5:00pm

If Mamdani Wins, The Gig (Work) Is Up

Authored by Jonathan Wolfson via RealClearPolitics,

One of Zohran Mamdani’s most harmful proposals is getting the least attention: his plan to restrict “gig” work – the freelancing that’s so popular across the Big Apple. Mamdani wants to wrap freelancing in so much red tape, it’ll be significantly harder for New Yorkers to work for themselves or get side income.

New Jersey, too, is flirting with severely limiting independent work. But whether it comes from Gracie Mansion or Trenton, a crackdown on gig work would hurt not just workers and those who hire them, but every New Yorker or New Jerseyan who relies on freelance workers in their daily lives.

As America’s biggest city, it should be no surprise that New Yorkers have a diversity of work arrangements. Studies before the pandemic found that more than a million New Yorkers freelance. Now at least 20% of working New Yorkers find gigs through apps.

Gig workers do all kinds of jobs. Some drive or deliver, others shoot freelance photography for major brands, and others build websites or repair bicycles. Whatever form it takes, freelancing is popular because it gives workers flexible hours, the chance to be their own boss, and the opportunity to earn extra money.

Millions of Americans perform independent work in addition to full-time work and millions more need the flexibility of independent work to balance work and caregiving responsibilities. And studies find these entrepreneurs are pleased with their choice to freelance.

Despite this growth and freelancer satisfaction, critics like Mamdani want to make it harder for Americans to be independent contractors. While they frame their opposition as a matter of “protecting workers,” they really want to put government in the driver’s seat of employment, while making it harder for workers to freelance at all.

In particular, Mamdani wants to increase scrutiny of the contracts between workers and businesses; impose stricter licensing requirements on delivery companies; and mandate wage, unemployment, and health insurance benefits for workers who utilize the delivery platforms. But since many independent workers have health insurance from another job or a spouse’s job, these “benefits” are less valuable than cash.

Bottom line, politicians like Mamdani believe freelancers are being duped and don’t understand the deal they are making. And they believe that it’s better to shut down the independent economy than to risk that some workers might make a bad deal.

It comes down to worldview. Some policymakers believe the only good job is a traditional full-time role that provides employee benefits and a W-2 tax return. And many labor union leaders fight against freelancing because they want more members, and they know independent workers don’t see the need to join a union. Some big businesses seeking to stifle competition from upstart entrepreneurs are happy to join the cause.

So what will happen if independent work gets limited, in New York City, New Jersey, or anywhere else?

California shows the answer. In 2019, California passed a law attacking independent work. The state’s many photographers, freelance writers, translators, and designers quickly discovered that their once-lucrative work had dried up. Company after company cut jobs. The Mercatus Center found that one out of 10 self-employed jobs disappeared in short order. Even worse job losses were surely on the horizon.

Recognizing the danger, California voters almost immediately passed a ballot measure that gave app-based workers and app-based companies the freedom to once again enter into freelance arrangements. The legislature then passed another law to carve out a dozen more professions. But those carve-outs didn’t apply to many other freelancers, like independent truckers, whose ability to work in California remains much more difficult. To this day, because politicians strangled freelance work, Californians have fewer of the jobs they want and need.

Freelance work has transformed New York City’s economy while opening doors for workers to supplement their incomes or start their own businesses. New Yorkers today have more ways to get around the city, get takeout more easily, and make money thanks to the gig economy. Zohran Mamdani’s ideas could put it all at risk – and every New Yorker should be worried.

Jonathan Wolfson is a visiting fellow at the Institute for the American Worker and led the policy office at the U.S. Department of Labor from 2019-2021.

Tyler Durden Tue, 10/07/2025 - 17:00

Jimmy Kimmel's Suspension Viewership Bump Evaporates; Traditional TV Meltdown Continues As Advertisers Scramble

Zero Hedge - October 7, 2025 - 4:40pm

Jimmy Kimmel's Suspension Viewership Bump Evaporates; Traditional TV Meltdown Continues As Advertisers Scramble

Disney briefly suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! in September after host Jimmy Kimmel falsely claimed that Tyler Robinson, the furry-obsessed suspect in the political assassination of Charlie Kirk, was affiliated with the "MAGA gang." That claim was later debunked by court documents revealing Robinson's radical left-wing views. Nexstar and Sinclair temporarily pulled the late-night show from their network, but since Kimmel's return, the latest audience data shows viewership has plunged from the levels observed during the hyped comeback show.

As we noted in late September, shortly after Kimmel's much-hyped return on Sept. 23, his audience numbers began to sink, and this comes as progressive late-night television has faced numerous reckonings, including the cancellation of Stephen Colbert. The crackdown on pharma ads also adds to pressure.

A Fox News report shows that last Thursday (Oct. 2), Kimmel averaged only 1.9 million viewers, a 71% collapse from his much-hyped comeback show. In the 25 to 54-year-old demographic, viewership tumbled by 85%, falling to 265,000, the lowest since his suspension. This puts the show back near its 2025 pre-scandal viewership average of 1.6 million, erasing any suspension bump.

The return shows that ABC really fumbled a perfect opportunity to cancel an underperforming show that has lost touch with reality and the broader shift in what's now socially acceptable.

the irony: it's free speech's fault all their shows imploded pic.twitter.com/d5Ej4RaTWK
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) September 19, 2025

In other words, the American people are no longer tolerating the lies and propaganda pushed by unfunny and unhinged leftist comedians and the progressive corporate media that spew endless streams of misinformation and disinformation.

Remember when wanna-be “comedians” like Stephen Colbert, turned late-night TV into a nonstop left-wing and vaccine-pushing propaganda machine?

Instead of making us laugh, they spoon-fed us Pfizer propaganda and discriminated against the unvaccinated.

They told us to “trust the… pic.twitter.com/YCmkgVNIus
— Dr. Simon Goddek (@goddeketal) October 18, 2024

More broadly, adding to the ongoing headwinds for traditional television, Nielsen ratings data, as cited by a new Goldman Sachs report, show an accelerating erosion of viewership across legacy networks.

Analysts Michael Ng and his team wrote in a note to clients that cable and broadcast networks continue to experience significant audience declines, particularly among key demographics targeted for advertising. However, Disney was the only network to show gains in the fourth quarter. Overall, the report reinforces the view that a continued shift away from traditional TV toward digital and streaming platforms continues full steam ahead.

For the full report on Goldman's traditional TV viewership tracker, ZeroHedge Pro Subs can read the full report in the usual place.

Ng's note builds on the UBS note we cited in early July, which stated that "Streaming surpasses traditional TV in May."

For advertisers, the continued collapse of traditional TV ratings should be ringing alarm bells. Kimmel's inability to retain any of the suspension bump is another troubling sign. This ongoing decline in legacy television suggests that marketers will continue to scramble toward newer, more innovative platforms to reach prime consumers, such as influencers, short-form video ads, and alternative media outlets.

Tyler Durden Tue, 10/07/2025 - 16:40

Israeli Families Express Optimism For Peace On 2nd Anniversary Of Oct. 7 Attack

Zero Hedge - October 7, 2025 - 4:20pm

Israeli Families Express Optimism For Peace On 2nd Anniversary Of Oct. 7 Attack

Authored by Travis Gillmore via The Epoch Times,

Two years ago today, the lives of many Israelis were upended at 6:30 a.m. local time when a wave of terrorists invaded from the Gaza Strip, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

Now, on the anniversary of the atrocities, all eyes are on Hamas—the terrorist group that launched the surprise attack that triggered the Israel–Hamas war—to see if leaders will comply with a 20-point peace plan presented by U.S. President Donald Trump on Sept. 29.

Hamas said on Oct. 3 that it would release the remaining hostages and the bodies of those who died while held captive. Questions remain about whether or when the exchange will take place, but some Israelis say they are confident in Trump’s plan.

“There’s optimism in the air, and we definitely put our trust in President Trump,” said Avichai Brodutch, whose wife and three children—aged 4, 8, and 10 at the time—were taken hostage along with a young neighbor during the siege and subsequently released after 51 days.

On the day of the attack, he was injured by a rocket-propelled grenade when about 250 terrorists overwhelmed and killed half of the 14 men defending the kibbutz where his family lived, he told The Epoch Times.

Some of the invaders wore Israeli military uniforms and spoke limited Hebrew to trick Israeli families into opening their homes, he said.

During his family’s imprisonment, Brodutch raised awareness about the plight of hostages by standing outside the Israeli Defense Ministry demanding their rescue.

He lauded Trump’s approach to diplomacy and what he described as the U.S. president’s perpetually bullish outlook when tackling challenging situations.

“His biggest virtue is his optimism, and I think he spreads it,” Brodutch said. “People in Israel right now are very optimistic that this deal is going to come through differently. The families of hostages have never been so optimistic.”

The most important aspects of the deal and Trump’s agenda are the elements meant to secure long-term peace in the region, he said.

“Whenever he speaks, he talks about the hostages, which means a lot to us, but if we go one step further, he speaks a lot about peace as well,” Brodutch said.

Terror’s Long-Term Toll

Aimee Labann gave birth to her son Kai 10 days before Hamas attacked.

She put him in his bed early in the morning on Oct. 7 to get a drink of water when the nation’s alert system—which consists of sirens and a woman’s voice repeating the words “red alert”—warned Israelis of potential danger.

“It goes into your bones, and you hear it, and you start acting immediately,” Labban told The Epoch Times.

Alerts are not uncommon in the region, and they usually last about 10 minutes, she said.

“But it was different that day because it just did not stop,” Labban said. “It was a never-ending red alert.”

She quickly gathered her family, including her infant child, husband Uriel Labban, and her mother, Deborah Mintz, and huddled in their safe room.

Terrorists attempted to breach it, but she and her husband were able to hold them back and keep the door closed.

Before fleeing the home, the invaders set fire to the building, trapping Mintz’s dog in the inferno.

“Her dog burnt alive, and we heard every single little bit of air he used up until we couldn’t hear him anymore, and that just tore my mother apart,” Labban said. “You can’t imagine the sound of a dog screaming.”

She was on the phone with the fire department as they worked to find and rescue her family. In the meantime, she moved a metal safety panel from her window to get fresh air in the room for her baby, occasionally placing Kai on the windowsill and quickly pulling him back when she saw terrorists approaching.

Years later, anxiety and stress remain. The thought of how to respond to another attack is always at the back of her mind.

“I don’t go out late at night because I don’t feel safe,” Labban said. “All I think about when I walk outside is what if something happens.”

The toll is emotionally and physically draining, she said.

“That’s what keeps your brain constantly moving and thinking and busy,” Labban said. “You’re just tired all the time. Your body is in a fight or flight situation.”

Testing Battle Readiness

Amit Govrin was on vacation with his wife at the Sea of Galilee when they noticed news reports of the invasion.

A member of the Israeli Defense Forces, later promoted to combat company commander and subsequently to the head of foreign affairs at Israel’s National Defense College, Govrin immediately decided to head toward the action.

Within minutes of entering the impacted area, he noticed dead bodies, destruction, and hundreds of vehicles stuck on the road.

“It seemed like it was a surrealistic kind of image that you cannot understand,” Govrin told The Epoch Times.

He said the ensuing battle, a guerrilla warfare-style engagement in close quarters with civilians, was harrowing and traumatic. Hamas fighters are generally indistinguishable from others unless they’re pointing a weapon, he said, making the situation more difficult to navigate.

While he was fighting the terrorists, shrapnel struck his right eye, causing a loss of vision and permanent damage.

Diplomacy in Action

Now a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Govrin is looking for diplomatic solutions to long-term problems. A regional security agreement is one prospect that deserves more attention, he said.

“The end goal needs to be an agreement that all of the pragmatic Arab countries are part of,” Govrin said. “We need to have structure. We need to have a border strategy.”

He called on other nations to pressure Hamas to release the hostages.

“Then we need to have a collective effort to disarm Hamas, and then we need to finish this war by signing a regional security agreement with all the problematic forces in the region,“ Govrin said. ”This is how these atrocities of Oct. 7 need to end.”

Following recent developments, Trump thanked some countries in the region—including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar—on Oct. 3 for their role in supporting the peace negotiations.

“We'll see how it all turns out. We have to get the final word down in concrete,” Trump said in a video posted on Truth Social. “Very importantly, I look forward to having the hostages come home to their parents.”

He described the negotiations as “unprecedented” and vowed to continue pressing for success.

“Everybody was unified in wanting this war to end and seeing peace in the Middle East, and we’re very close to achieving that,” Trump said.

Tyler Durden Tue, 10/07/2025 - 16:20

Tesla Unveils Cheaper Model Y Starting at $37,990 After Tax Credit Loss

Zero Hedge - October 7, 2025 - 2:45pm

Tesla Unveils Cheaper Model Y Starting at $37,990 After Tax Credit Loss

Tesla unveiled a cheaper Model Y today with prices starting at $37,990–$39,990, about 15% below the previous base model, as the company works to reverse slowing sales and lost U.S. tax incentives.

Elon Musk has long promised a mass-market EV, though he scrapped a $25,000 car plan last year. Still, he argued in July: "The desire to buy the car is very high. (It's) just (that) people don't have enough money in the bank account to buy it. So the more affordable we can make the car, the better."

The new pricing on Tesla's website today, reported by Bloomberg and Reuters, followed teaser clips earlier this week posted on X showing headlights and a wheel with the date “10/7.” Tesla reportedly began building this lower-cost version in June but delayed production until after $7,500 tax credits expired. CFO Vaibhav Taneja warned output will ramp up slower than initially expected.

While Tesla just had a record quarter, global sales are down about 6% this year, and analysts expect U.S. EV sales to fall sharply after the credit’s removal. Recall, about a week ago the company reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter delivery figures. Deliveries came in at 497,099 vehicles, a 7.4% increase from a year earlier and smashing Bloomberg consensus estimates of 439,612. The numbers also beat the recently-boosted guidance from Goldman and UBS.

The bulk of the growth came from the company’s mass-market lineup: Model 3/Y deliveries reached 481,166, up 9.4% year-over-year and surpassing expectations of 424,828. Deliveries of Tesla’s other models totaled 15,933, representing a 53% jump from the previous quarter but slightly below estimates of 17,184.

On the production side, Tesla built 447,450 vehicles, down 4.8% from a year earlier and just under the consensus of 450,313. Model 3/Y production totaled 435,826, a 1.8% decline but still ahead of forecasts. Production of other models slipped to 11,624, down 13% from the prior quarter.

The strong delivery numbers likely reflected a pull-forward effect ahead of the loss of the US tax credits. Federal incentives that provided buyers with up to $7,500 for new EVs and $4,000 for used EVs expired on September 30 under new legislation passed by Congress. Tesla and its rivals had been factoring these credits into competitive lease and purchase offers, boosting demand in the final weeks of the quarter.

UBS said in a note that a push to take advantage of the tax credit would help delivery numbers: "Strong deliveries in the US as Tesla pushes, and consumers take advantage of, the $7,500 IRA EV tax credit before its expiry at the end of September 2025. We believe 3Q25 could be the highest quarterly US deliveries since mid-2023 and potentially the highest ever. We believe demand is very likely being pulled forward so we'd expect a q/q drop in 4Q25, even if the new "lower cost" Model Y is introduced."

Now we'll see if a lower cost Model Y can do the same...

Tyler Durden Tue, 10/07/2025 - 14:45