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Thu, 09 Apr 2026 03:25:00 +0000 The Great Retreat: Beijing's Digital Currency Ambitions Are Faltering
The Great Retreat: Beijing's Digital Currency Ambitions Are Faltering
The Great Retreat: Beijing's Digital Currency Ambitions Are Faltering
Authored by James Gorrie via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
For years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has positioned the digital yuan (e-CNY) as the ultimate weapon of financial totalitarianism . It was intended to be the crowning achievement of the surveillance state. With a programmable, traceable digital currency, Beijing thought it would finally break the back of private payment giants like Alipay and WeChat Pay.
Signage of the Chinese digital currency is seen near a coffee store in the New Actuation Fintech Center in Beijing on Feb. 17, 2022. Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images
Yet, despite having total control over the levers of the domestic economy, Beijing’s digital dream is showing signs of terminal fatigue.
Since its debut at the 2022 Winter Olympics, the e-CNY has gone from an aggressive, potential retail juggernaut to a low-public-appeal tool for state administration.
In short, nobody really wants it.
The Genesis of Control: Why the e-CNY was Born
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) didn’t launch the digital yuan to make life easier for the average citizen in Shanghai or Shenzhen. It was an aggressive move against the autonomy of the private sector and an offensive tactic to undermine individual privacy.
In 2014, when China’s research into the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) began, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) realized that the vast majority of retail transactions occurred on platforms it did not directly control. The authorities understand that any lack of control is a potential threat to the Party. Therefore, the goal of the digital yuan was “financial inclusion” (a euphemism for state monitoring and control of every cent spent), and the “internationalization of the yuan” to challenge the U.S. dollar.
But most importantly, it was about strengthening the CCP’s “Social Credit System.” A retail CBDC allows the state to freeze assets instantly if a citizen’s behavior deviates from Party orthodoxy.
The Adoption Decline: Why People Refuse to Swipe
Despite distributing millions of dollars in “red envelope” giveaways and forcing government employees in cities like Changshu to receive salaries in e-CNY, adoption has stalled. The reason is simple: there is no consumer benefit, only risk.
Alipay and WeChat Pay already provide a seamless user experience. Transitioning to a state-controlled wallet offers zero additional utility while stripping away the last vestiges of financial anonymity. In a culture where “saving face” and protecting one’s assets from the predatory state are paramount, it seems that the Chinese public has responded with a collective shrug.
A Chinese customer uses his mobile to pay via a QR code with the WeChat app at a local market in Beijing on Sept. 19, 2020. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
A Digital Yuan Reimagined?
Even though domestic digital yuan transaction volumes have made significant gains in terms of percentage of transaction usage, the total remains just a small fraction of the total money supply. In most instances, it’s used for low-value public transit or utility payments before being immediately converted back into traditional bank deposits.
To enhance its appeal as broadly as possible, as of Jan. 1 this year, the central bank is allowing commercial banks to pay interest on e-CNY wallets , making it a savings as well as a payment vehicle. This may be the PBOC’s effort to salvage the digital currency. But it also changes the nature of the original digital yuan as a CBDC, at least to some degree. However, current deposits in China earn a meager 0.05 percent.
Opinions vary on which criteria are optional, but most definitions hold that it’s a “digital form of central bank money.” That strict definition may make the new design make much of the e-CNY no longer a true CBDC.
A New Trade Currency?
Realizing that domestic retail adoption is not where it needs to be, Beijing is shifting its focus toward “Project mBridge”—a multi-CBDC platform designed for cross-border trade between BRICS nations. The strategy for the digital yuan has shifted from monitoring citizens’ grocery shopping habits to bypassing the SWIFT system for oil and gas trade.
Increasing international use is part of a broader strategy to maintain trade and financial relationships if U.S. financial sanctions cut it off from dollars. Trading partners are indeed using it, but not as much as Beijing would like or needs. Increasing the interest rate would certainly boost the e-CNY’s attractiveness internationally, but the current low interest rate isn’t much of an incentive to adopt it.
By focusing on a wholesale CBDC for international settlements, the CCP hopes to build a financial “Iron Curtain” that is immune to Western sanctions. This pivot is a tacit admission that the retail e-CNY has failed to become the “people’s money.”
Economic Decay and Internal Fractures
The failure and redesign of the e-CNY shouldn’t be viewed in a vacuum. The conditions and aspects of the digital yuan are still evolving because the original rollout didn’t succeed as much as the CCP had hoped. The digital yuan evolution is happening as the “China Miracle” enters its death throes.
There are too many negative economic factors to ignore. The property market, the main source of Chinese household wealth, continues to deteriorate. Youth unemployment remains at record highs, and the Belt and Road Initiative has turned into a massive debt-trap liability, with many partner nations unable to repay loans. Adopting a new currency that removes all privacy and personal autonomy in such economic conditions is poor timing, to say the least.
Political Division Within the CCP Is Another Factor
Political support within the CCP is shifting in intensity and among factions, and the Party is not the monolith it appears to be. Factional infighting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s “Security First” loyalists and the remnants of the technocratic wing has led to policy paralysis as other financial priorities demanded attention.
Resources that were once earmarked for the retail digital yuan are being diverted to shore up a failing banking system and to fund “theater” projects in the artificial intelligence sector meant to project a facade of technological parity with the West.
The Future: A Tool for Control, Not Commerce
Will the CCP cancel the e-CNY?
That’s not likely. Dictatorships rarely admit defeat. What’s more, it would be another mark against Xi’s authority that his opponents could use against him. In short, the digitalization of currency isn’t going away.
Instead, the digital yuan will likely be relegated to a specialized tool for state-to-state transactions, government disbursements, and auditing local officials. Plus, the digital yuan is ultimately about increasing control over the people and preserving the CCP’s rule over the country.
It’s here to stay, in one form or another.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 04/08/2026 - 23:25 Close
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 03:00:00 +0000 Federal Appeals Court Allows Pentagon To Designate Anthropic As A Supply-Chain Risk
Federal Appeals Court Allows Pentagon To Designate Anthropic As A Supply-Chain Risk
In a significant development for the intersection of artificial intelligence policy and national security, a federal appeals court in Washin
Read more.....
Federal Appeals Court Allows Pentagon To Designate Anthropic As A Supply-Chain Risk
In a significant development for the intersection of artificial intelligence policy and national security, a federal appeals court in Washington ruled on April 8 that the Department of War may designate Anthropic as a supply-chain risk while a full judicial review plays out. The decision came after the AI company sought an emergency stay to block the controversial designation.
Pages from the Anthropic website and the company's logos are displayed on a computer screen in New York on Feb. 26, 2026. AP Photo/Patrick Sison
The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that Anthropic “has not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review,” allowing the blacklist to remain in effect for now. This ruling directly conflicts with a temporary injunction issued last month by a federal district court in California, which had paused the designation during ongoing litigation.
The designation, authorized under federal laws intended to shield military and government systems from supply-chain vulnerabilities and foreign sabotage, functions as an effective blacklist. It prohibits Anthropic from conducting business with the federal government or its contractors and directs federal agencies, contractors, and suppliers to terminate existing ties with the company.
The move originated after Anthropic declined a Department of War request to alter the user policies and safety guardrails of its flagship AI model, Claude. The company refused to remove restrictions that prevent the AI from being used for mass surveillance or the development and operation of fully autonomous weapons systems. Anthropic has emphasized its commitment to “constitutional AI” principles and responsible deployment, arguing that such guardrails are essential to ethical AI use.
The Pentagon has stated publicly that it does not intend to employ Claude for those specific purposes, but it has insisted on the flexibility to use the technology for all lawful military applications. President Donald Trump weighed in on social media earlier, accusing Anthropic of trying to “strong-arm” the federal government by using its AI policies to dictate military decisions.
Late on April 8, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche celebrated the appeals court decision on X (formerly Twitter), describing it as “a resounding victory for military readiness.” He added: “Our military needs full access to Anthropic’s models if its technology is integrated into our sensitive systems.”
Anthropic, a prominent AI firm founded by former OpenAI executives and backed by major investors including Amazon and Google, has positioned itself as a leader in safe and reliable AI development. Its Claude models are widely used in enterprise, research, and creative applications precisely because of their built-in safeguards.
The case is believed to mark the first time such a supply-chain risk designation — typically reserved for foreign entities posing security threats — has been applied to a major U.S.-based AI company. It underscores deepening tensions between commercial AI developers’ emphasis on ethical guardrails and the government’s push for unfettered access to advanced technology for defense purposes.
Litigation continues in both the California district court and the D.C. Circuit, and further updates are expected as the conflicting rulings are reconciled.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 04/08/2026 - 23:00 Close
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 02:35:00 +0000 Liberals Advance Bill That Could Criminalize Quoting The Bible As Hate Speech
Liberals Advance Bill That Could Criminalize Quoting The Bible As Hate Speech
Liberals Advance Bill That Could Criminalize Quoting The Bible As Hate Speech
Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,
Canada is barreling toward a chilling new reality where quoting certain Bible passages could be treated as a criminal hate speech offense.
Bill C-9, the so-called Combatting Hate Act, cleared the House of Commons on March 25 and now moves to the Senate.
Critics say the legislation guts a decades-old legal safeguard that protected sincere religious expression, handing prosecutors new tools to target Christians and other believers who dare reference holy texts on topics like sexuality.
The bill, introduced last September by Liberal Justice Minister and Attorney General Sean Fraser, eliminates sections 319(3)(b) and 319(3.1)(b) of the Canadian Criminal Code. Those provisions had long stated that a person could not be convicted of hate speech if they “expressed or attempted to establish by an argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text.”
Fraser and his Liberal allies insist the measure will not touch religious practice. “Canadians will always be able to pray, preach, teach, interpret scripture, and express religious belief in good faith, without fear of criminal sanction,” Fraser claimed on December 9.
Yet Conservative MP Andrew Lawton is not convinced. “Bill C-9 makes it easier for people of faith and others to be criminally charged because of views that other people take offense to,” he told Fox News Digital.
Lawton added that the legislation “weakens protections for freedom of expression and freedom of religion, especially with the removal of the longstanding religious defense, which has stipulated that religious beliefs and religious texts expressed in good faith cannot be seen as ‘hateful.’”
Liberal MP Marc Miller made the threat explicit during an October House justice committee hearing. “I don’t understand how the concept of good faith could be invoked if someone were literally invoking a passage from, in this case, the Bible, though there are other religious texts that say the same thing,” Miller said. He continued: “How do we somehow constitute this as being said in good faith? Clearly, there are situations in these texts where statements are hateful. They should not be used to invoke … or be a defense.”
Miller specifically cited passages in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Romans as examples.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops fired back in a December 2025 letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney. “This narrowly framed exemption has served for many years as an essential safeguard to ensure that Canadians are not criminally prosecuted for their sincere, truth-seeking expression of beliefs made without animus and grounded in long-standing religious traditions,” the bishops wrote.
The Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council warned the bill “poses disproportionate risks not only to marginalized and racialized communities, but to faith-based communities more broadly including Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, and Jewish communities.”
Supporters point to a reported 169 percent rise in hate crimes since 2018 and argue the changes target real threats like Nazi symbols or terrorist insignia, including those linked to groups such as the Proud Boys. But the removal of the religious-text defense has faith leaders across denominations fearing selective enforcement against traditional biblical teachings.
The bill also creates new hate-crime sentencing enhancements and makes “willful promotion of hatred” — including displaying designated terrorist symbols — punishable by up to two years in prison, though journalistic, educational, or artistic uses remain exempt.
While a handful of Jewish organizations back the legislation as a tool against antisemitism, the overwhelming response from Christian and Muslim advocacy groups has been fierce opposition.
This is the inevitable endpoint of leftist governance that treats disagreement on marriage, sexuality, or human nature as a public danger. Once governments decide certain truths are “hateful,” scripture itself becomes contraband. Canada’s experiment shows how quickly religious liberty evaporates when bureaucrats get to define good faith.
Americans watching this unfold have every reason to reject the same path. Free speech and the right to live and speak according to one’s faith are non-negotiable. The fight to preserve them isn’t abstract — it is happening right now on the northern border.
Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch . Follow us on X @ModernityNews .
Tyler Durden
Wed, 04/08/2026 - 22:35 Close
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 02:10:00 +0000 China Produces "Baby Shahed" Kamikaze Drones For $500
China Produces "Baby Shahed" Kamikaze Drones For $500
China's manufacturing base is now churning out short-range, low-cost kamikaze drones priced at under $500 per unit, which X user PLA Military Updates has described as "
Read more.....
China Produces "Baby Shahed" Kamikaze Drones For $500
China's manufacturing base is now churning out short-range, low-cost kamikaze drones priced at under $500 per unit, which X user PLA Military Updates has described as "Baby Shahed" drones.
According to the post, the so-called Baby Shahed costs around 3,000 yuan (about $450), has a range of 20 to 30 kilometers, flies at roughly 200 kilometers per hour, and can be launched by hand or from a rack. These drones could even be launched from a box truck or shipping containers.
PLA Military Updates said the Baby Shaheds are produced by the Chinese civilian drone company FLYControl. More importantly, the platform appears to confirm that China's civilian drone manufacturing base has the capacity to produce not only these smaller one-way attack drones, but also larger, low-cost kamikaze drones based on Iranian and Russian designs that cost around $20,000 each .
These suicide drones have become critical in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the US-Iran conflict (currently at a ceasefire ) because their low cost and maneuverability via swarming enable them to inflict severe damage on high-value assets, exposing a massive security gap.
The key lesson is that countries seeking deterrence will likely move to stockpile these drones in the millions . The U.S. revealed in recent weeks that it adopted Iran's drone playbook and deployed a Shahed-style system against Tehran.
As low-cost drones proliferate on the modern battlefield, the economics of war are changing forever. Relying on expensive interceptor missiles to counter cheap one-way attack drones is not sustainable in the long run. That is why low-cost interceptor drones and more affordable counter-UAS systems are likely to gain significant attention from the Department of War, especially after the last six weeks exposed glaring security gaps at U.S. bases and even civilian infrastructure, such as data centers, energy plants, residential towers, and water desalination plants across the Gulf.
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Tyler Durden
Wed, 04/08/2026 - 22:10 Close
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 01:45:00 +0000 Raising A Child Now Costs About $303,000: Study
Raising A Child Now Costs About $303,000: Study
Raising A Child Now Costs About $303,000: Study
Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,
Parents who start raising a child in 2026 will spend around $303,418 from birth to 18 years old, according to a study published April 6 by Lending Tree. The cost increased 1.9 percent from last year.
The average annual cost works out to about $16,857 over 18 years, pushing this year’s estimate over $300,000 for the first time since Lending Tree began calculating it in 2023, the online loan marketplace reported .
Hawaii is the most expensive state to raise a small child, as yearly costs reached $40,342 for the first five years, the report said. Raising a child for 18 years in Hawaii is projected to cost $412,661. The next most expensive state is Alaska at $365,047, followed by Maryland at $326,360.
Parents in the Aloha State are projected to spend more than 27 percent of their yearly income on raising a small child. Nebraska and Indiana follow closely with 23 percent. In all, parents in 22 states should expect to spend at least 20 percent of their yearly income on raising a small child, the report stated.
Maryland at $36,419 and Massachusetts at $34,247 were the second and third-most costly states per year for young children. California came in fourth highest with a yearly cost of $33,692. Insurance premiums in California were the highest of the four top states at an average of $5,254 per year.
The differences between some coastal states are substantial. Raising a child in California will now cost an average of $312,300, compared with Florida, where it costs $280,280, the study showed.
States with the lowest annual costs to raise a small child were Mississippi ($17,148), Alabama ($18,019), and South Dakota ($18,622).
Florida ranked 27th with a nearly $25,000 annual price tag to raise a small child, while Texas ranked 45th at just about $21,000.
Costs to raise a small child rose by about 10 percent or more in 14 states from 2025 to 2026. In four of those states, prices jumped by at least 20 percent, according to Lending Tree . Those included Nebraska, where costs increased 27.4 percent, and in Montana (24.5), Maine (24.4), and Wisconsin (23.3).
The largest overall cost increases were found in rental costs, which jumped by nearly 50 percent, and girls’ clothing, which jumped by nearly 27 percent.
President Donald Trump, joined by Republican lawmakers, signs the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law during an Independence Day military family picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on July 4, 2025. Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Cost savings were found in a 10 percent increase in the child tax credit provided by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act . This resulted in $200 in savings each year.
The annual cost for the first five years of a child’s life decreased by about $94 from $29,419 to $29,325, or about 0.3 percent, because of a small dip in day care costs, according to the report.
* * *
Tyler Durden
Wed, 04/08/2026 - 21:45 Close
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 01:20:00 +0000 "Shocking Levels Of Distress": CMBS Delinquencies Unexpectedly Soar To Covid Highs
"Shocking Levels Of Distress": CMBS Delinquencies Unexpectedly Soar To Covid Highs
With market focused on private credit as the next credit market crisis vortex, many have forgotten that CMBS, the asset class that was smashed in the
Read more.....
"Shocking Levels Of Distress": CMBS Delinquencies Unexpectedly Soar To Covid Highs
With market focused on private credit as the next credit market crisis vortex, many have forgotten that CMBS, the asset class that was smashed in the aftermath of covid as hundreds of office buildings were suddenly left vacant, has been teetering on the edge for years. For some, it proved to be a lucrative bet as the "next big short " after various office-heavy CMBX tranches collapsed in 2020 and 2021. But due to the slow-burning nature of commercial real-estate deterioration, where data center REITs provided a solid offset to weakness elsewhere, credit markets eventually moved on to the next worst thing.
It may be time to reassess: according to the latest TREPP CMBS monthly report, March saw a surge in the delinquency rate, which jumped by 41bps to 7.55%, the highest in years, led by a surge in the lodging rate, a category which until now was not a source of concern.
TREPP states that the five largest newly delinquent loans accounted for just over $2 billion of the almost $5.1 billion in newly delinquent loans, including a West Coast hotel portfolio, a Midwest office loan, a Northeast retail center loan, a national hotel portfolio, and a Pacific Northwest office portfolio, which pushed the rate higher.
In addition, roughly 40% of the newly delinquent loans this month were considered performing matured balloon last month. Continuing the sideways delinquency trend as loans mature, go delinquent, cure, and become delinquent again.
Among all newly delinquent loans, non-performing matured balloon was the most common delinquency classification, consistent with prior months.
At the property-type level, four of the five major property type rates increased while one edged down slightly. Lodging posted the largest increase, jumping 137 basis points to 7.31%, the first time it has been above 7% since its recent April 2025 peak of 7.85%. Office rose 51 basis points to 11.71%, maintaining the elevated range established over the past year, but remaining below January 2026’s recent high of 12.34%. Retail increased 32 basis points to 6.62%, rising from February’s recent low of 6.30% but remaining below the higher readings observed in 2024 and early 2025, when that rate averaged 6.71%. Multifamily was also especially week, as the delinquency rate rose 30 basis points to 7.15%, pushing slightly above its prior high-water mark of 7.12% in October 2025, and well past its marks from one year ago of 5.44% and 1.84% two years ago. Industrial - a stable category which includes warehouse and data center REITs - dipped slightly to 0.65% from 0.67%, continuing to sit near the bottom of the major property-type delinquency spectrum.
And in an ominous twist, if loans past their maturity date but current on interest (classified as performing matured balloon) were included, the delinquency rate would register 9.07%, up 32 basis points from February. This figure sits 152 basis points above the headline rate of 7.55% and continues to highlight the role of maturities in overall CMBS performance. The seriously delinquent rate (60+ days delinquent, in foreclosure, REO, or non-performing balloons) also increased, rising to 7.29% (from 6.89%). The percentage of loan balance in the 30-day delinquent bucket is 0.26%, essentially flat versus February (0.25%).
In a well-timed report, the WSJ yesterday published a reminder that much of the battered US office market continues to drag along the bottom, and continues to hold a fire sale, featuring some buildings marked down by more than 90%.
Some striking examples:
In Chicago, real-estate developer Marc Calabria bought a 485,000-square-foot office building for $4 million. The building sold for $68.1 million a decade ago.
Developer Asher Luzzatto paid a mere $5.3 million for the Denver Energy Center, after a foreclosure process. The two-building complex sold for $176 million in 2013.
Even the federal government’s landlord is getting in on the act. The General Services Administration last month sold a 940,000-square-foot building to a residential converter for $24 million, a tiny fraction of its value a few years ago.
Investors purchased 204 distressed office buildings nationwide last year, up from 133 sales in 2024, according to data firm MSCI. Sales of these properties, which were auctioned out of bankruptcies or sold through foreclosures and lender seizure, came to $5.2 billion. In the first two months of this year, sales volume of distressed offices was $808 million, up 24.5% from the same period last year , MSCI said.
Denver Energy Center
The bottom line is this: we may be approaching the next commercial real estate crisis because much of the reserves that kept the sector semi-solvent for years, have run out. As the WSJ puts it, "landlords and their lenders held on to their office towers for years, hoping for a turnaround after Covid. Now, they are accepting enormous losses. Owners and creditors are capitulating to the reality that more employees are splitting their work time between home and office. They are also resigned to stubbornly higher interest rates, which lower property values and make it harder for buyers to borrow."
“People who don’t know real estate would be shocked at the level of distress,” Luzzatto said.
Of course, not every office building goes for a few pennies on the dollar. These are mostly B-grade, or poorer-quality buildings, often in undesirable locations. And owners of high-end office towers in the best locations of New York City and the hottest parts of San Francisco are raising rents and selling buildings profitably (although pockets of weakness are appearing there too, now that AI is making a growing number of tech workers obsolete).
But most office sales reflect the sector’s steep decline. Even higher-quality properties on average have dropped about 35% in value from their peak , according to analytics firm Green Street.
Buyers, meanwhile, are picking up office towers in major U.S. cities for roughly the price of a three-bedroom condo unit in Manhattan. These distressed sales are paving the way for new owners to pursue redevelopment ideas that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.
Calabria in Chicago plans to convert the office building into an urban farm and education center. He is working with Farmzero, which will use grow lights and hydroponic farming techniques to produce millions of pounds a year of berries, tomatoes, lettuce, herbs and other vegetables.
“The buy-in at this distressed price allows us the opportunity to afford change,” Calabria said.
Rock-bottom prices are also accelerating the move to residential conversion. Developers who bought at steep discounts can now justify costly structural changes - such as carving out atriums or reconfiguring floor layouts - that would have been financially unworkable at higher valuations.
At the start of the year, more than 90,000 apartments nationwide were in the process of conversion nationwide, up 28% from a year earlier, according to data firm RentCafe. New York City’s obsolete buildings are leading the way, but tax breaks and other government incentives are helping spark similar projects in Chicago and Washington, D.C.
This reckoning follows years when office owners and their lenders avoided confronting the sector’s problems. Owners would inject more equity, while lenders extended loans in hopes of a rebound.
Now, with many concluding that values aren’t coming back, lenders are increasingly demanding repayment or selling the properties, a sign that the office market’s long slide that intensified during the pandemic is nearing a bottom.
“We’re six years from the shock of Covid,” said Jim Costello, an MSCI executive director. “But that’s how long it takes someone to capitulate and give up such a highly valued asset.”
The good news is that the threat of systemic risk remains low for now: many banks and other lenders are better positioned to take losses after spending the past few years shoring up their balance sheets and building reserves against troubled loans. Special servicers overseeing distressed office buildings financed through commercial mortgage-backed securities are also selling. The Chicago building being converted into an urban farm was sold by special servicer CW Asset Management, which said the low price was justified because the empty building’s taxes, utility bills and other costs were so high.
It isn’t just weak demand from remote work forcing down values. Owners must contend with the high cost of leasing up empty space -through hefty brokerage commissions and tenant incentives - and uncertainty about how AI could reshape office usage.
Sharp discounts are showing up in both downtown and suburban markets. For example, Newmark Group brokered the sale of five suburban Texas office buildings over the past two years at prices more than 50% lower than prepandemic values. Buyers demolished them to make way for higher-demand uses like industrial space.
Some of the big buyers of distressed office assets include Cross Ocean Partners, a credit-focused investment firm known for moving from one pocket of distress to another. It recently raised the first $300 million of a $750 million fund to buy distressed office assets—both debt and equity—in such markets as Minneapolis, Austin, Texas, and the Boston area.
The strategy centers on acquiring assets at steep discounts and underwriting the cash flow from existing tenants. Even if office demand remains weak, those in-place rents can generate a profit.
While institutional investors have largely pulled back from distress to focus on the strongest buildings in the most resilient markets, high-net-worth individuals are stepping in.
Hossein Fateh recently bought a 940,000-square-foot GSA building in Washington, D.C. A data-center investor, he made a fortune when Digital Realty paid $7.6 billion for DuPont Fabros Technology, which he co-founded.
Fateh is planning a residential conversion, adding a swimming pool or atriums in the middle of the floors to create windows. Such architectural hacks will help push the conversion cost into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
If the price wasn’t so low, “this deal wouldn’t work,” he said.
And with AI set to unleash the next big wave of office vacancy, coupled with banks throwing in the towel on cash-burning properties, many more such deals are emerging on the horizon.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 04/08/2026 - 21:20 Close
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:55:00 +0000 "It's Our Nature": Colorado Doubles Down On New Assaults On The First Amendment
"It's Our Nature": Colorado Doubles Down On New Assaults On The First Amendment
"It's Our Nature": Colorado Doubles Down On New Assaults On The First Amendment
Authored by Jonathan Turley,
Colorado’s tourism slogan, “it’s our nature,” has a menacing meaning for free speech advocates. Colorado is now arguably the most anti-free speech state in the union, pushing an array of measures attacking those with opposing social and political views. The irony is that the state has proved a bonanza for free speech with spectacular legal failures that reaffirmed rather than restricted the First Amendment. Now, the Democratic legislature and governor are back with new unconstitutional measures, including a requirement that lawyers not share information with federal immigration officials as a condition for filing with state courts.
Colorado legislators and judges have spent years attacking core free speech and associational rights. In the last election, the state attempted to strip President Donald Trump from the ballot with the support of a majority of its Democratic-controlled state supreme court. (The effort was later declared unconstitutional in a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court. Colorado could not even get any of the liberal justices to support its actions).
The state is responsible for the efforts to force business owners to create products celebrating same-sex marriages. That effort led to the Masterpiece Cake Shop case and then the 303 Creative case . Even after losing earlier efforts against Masterpiece Cake Shop owner Jack Phillips, the targeting of its owner continued for years . That litigation proved to be a tremendous victory for free speech .
Colorado has also been leading the fight to limit the speech and associational rights of professionals and parents on “conversion therapy.” Recently, that effort led to another massive loss before the Supreme Court in Chiles v. Salazar , resulting in a resounding 8-1 rejection of Colorado’s position. It could only secure the vote of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson .
After that near-unanimous ruling against the state, Colorado responded by doubling down with legislation to expose any counselors engaged in conversion therapy to heightened legal liability, including waiving any statute of limitations. That case could also result in legal challenges as Colorado continues to spend a fortune on seeking to curtail free speech rights.
Now, the state is defending a new public accommodation law, HB 25-1312, that defines “gender expression” to include “chosen name” and “how an individual chooses to be addressed.”
As in past Colorado cases, the state secured favorable rulings from district court judges. President Biden-nominated U.S. District Judge Regina Rodriguez refused to grant a preliminary injunction against the Colorado public accommodation law.
The Alliance Defending Freedom is appealing the matter to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on behalf of its clients, XX-XY Athletics and Born Again Used Books . Other appeals are also being brought in the matter.
At the same time, the state has moved forward on Senate Bill 25-276, which imposes a threshold condition for state e-filings that requires lawyers to certify annually “under penalty of perjury,” that they will not use “personal identifying information” from the system to help federal immigration enforcement.
The provision is vague on critical points in seeking to bar any information that might identify an individual or cooperating or assisting in federal enforcement. While the rule allows for compliance with federal law and court orders, it is leaves considerable ambiguity on the scope of the rule.
It is common for courts to consider specific motions to seal certain information, but such motions must state a legal basis for such withholding of information in a given case.
Lawyers have already objected to the compelled endorsement of the state’s anti-ICE policies as a condition to their representing their clients, as well as a bar on cooperating with federal authorities.
The law will likely face an immediate challenge not only from lawyers and clients but also from the federal government.
Denver Gazette investigative columnist Jimmy Sengenberger has been covering the story on limiting what is considered a public resource.
The Colorado Judicial Branch’s page on the law previously posted a statement that “In September 2025, some users may have briefly seen a certification requirement appear in the system.” It noted that the Judicial Department elected to take it down “for further internal and external discussion regarding the implementation of the new statutory requirements.” However, it announced implementation in March.
It stated that the condition would apply to any “third party” with access to the system – “certain attorneys, LLPs, and, in certain case types, pro se litigants”with access to information that is not “available to the public online, in person, or through a records request.”
It added “We recognize that some people may be frustrated by the requirements of this new legislation,” but insisted that the “judiciary is required to comply with the laws as enacted by the legislature and has worked hard to make the process as easy as possible.”
In my view, the law is facially unconstitutional and should be struck down. Regardless of the outcome on these challenges, Colorado appears hellbent on maintaining its dubious status as the most anti-free speech state in the union. Citizens will continue to subsidize this effort to defend laws compelling or censoring speech.
Colorado’s record is reminiscent of other blue jurisdictions like New York, Illinois, and D.C. in creating precedent in support of gun rights. In passing flagrantly unconstitutional gun control legislation, these Democratic legislators and governors proved a windfall for gun rights advocates in triggering a series of major Second Amendment victories, including New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen and Heller v. District of Columbia .
Colorado appears to be working to create the same legacy on the First Amendment. The state motto, “Nil Sine Numine” (Nothing without Providence), is fitting. For free speech advocates, Colorado has proven positively a godsend in its string of losses in seeking to gut the First Amendment.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “ Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution .”
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Tyler Durden
Wed, 04/08/2026 - 20:55 Close
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:30:00 +0000 S&P Slashes New Orleans' Credit Rating On "Structurally Imbalanced Operations"
S&P Slashes New Orleans' Credit Rating On "Structurally Imbalanced Operations"
New Orleans, home to Mardi Gras and muffulettas, has been governed by Democrats for decades, so it should come as little surprise that S&P Global
Read more.....
S&P Slashes New Orleans' Credit Rating On "Structurally Imbalanced Operations"
New Orleans, home to Mardi Gras and muffulettas, has been governed by Democrats for decades, so it should come as little surprise that S&P Global Ratings has slashed the city's obligation rating to the third-lowest level of investment grade and placed it on a negative outlook.
S&P Global Ratings cut New Orleans' general obligation rating by one notch to BBB+ with a negative outlook, citing structurally imbalanced finances, shrinking reserves, and growing reliance on one-time desperate measures to meet cash needs.
"The downgrade and negative outlook reflect the city's structurally imbalanced operations , declining reserves and liquidity , and need to rely on multiple one-time measures to meet short-term cash needs, including additional borrowing for operating liquidity," S&P Global Ratings analysts Alex Louie and Sarah Sullivant wrote in the report .
The downgrade serves as a warning of worsening fiscal strain, with the city projecting a $160 million deficit in fiscal 2025 and continuing to rely on stopgap measures, including borrowing to maintain operating liquidity, tapping external funds, and maintaining hiring freezes and furloughs.
The analysts continued, "Despite these measures, we believe the city still faces substantial challenges in achieving those goals and has a history of management projections not meeting actual audited results."
In February, Moody's downgraded the city's credit rating by two notches to the bottom of investment grade and warned investors about risks to future bond sales amid a budget crisis.
New Orleans' rapidly deteriorating credit profile comes as no surprise, given that Democrats have governed the metro area for a generation .
Here is the list of the mayors:
Helena Moreno, 2026 to present, Democrat
LaToya Cantrell, 2018 to 2026, Democrat
Mitch Landrieu, 2010 to 2018, Democrat
Ray Nagin, 2002 to 2010, Democrat, after previously switching from the Republican Party
Marc Morial, 1994 to 2002, Democrat
Sidney Barthelemy, 1986 to 1994, Democrat
Ernest N. Morial, 1978 to 1986, Democrat
Moon Landrieu, 1970 to 1978, Democrat
S&P Global Ratings analysts noted that although the city expects balanced operations in 2027, "given the city's significant budget and operational challenges, achieving structural balance could take longer ."
For some history , the last Republican mayor of New Orleans was Benjamin Flanders, who served from 1870 to 1872.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 04/08/2026 - 20:30 Close
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:05:00 +0000 SAVE America Act Has Failsafe To Ensure Enforcement
SAVE America Act Has Failsafe To Ensure Enforcement
SAVE America Act Has Failsafe To Ensure Enforcement
Authored by Petr Svab via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Tucked away in the stalled SAVE America Act is a provision meant to ensure that its proof-of-citizenship requirement would be enforced even if future administrations would choose not to.
The U.S. Capitol building in Washington on March 17, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times
The bill, which passed the House in February but got stuck in the Senate, would require new voter registrants to present proof of citizenship, such as a passport, a REAL ID, or birth certificate. It’s been much touted by Republicans as a necessary bulwark against voter fraud. Democrats have called it an attempt at voter suppression.
The bill would codify that the attorney general can sue officials that register voters without the citizenship check . Yet the question has remained what would happen if the attorney general refuses to enforce it.
The bill attempts to solve that issue by including a private right of action. It means that private citizens could also file lawsuits based on violations of the law.
“Private right of action is vital,” according to Hans von Spakovsky, election law expert and former member of the Federal Election Commission currently at the Advancing American Freedom think tank.
“Democrat administrations will refuse to enforce it at all, and particularly not against blue states . Private parties will be forced to do that,” he told The Epoch Times in a text message.
The caveat is the right to sue is written as an amendment of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, which says that only a person “aggrieved by a violation” can sue and only if the violation occurred within 30 days before a federal election. Otherwise, the person needs to first notify the top election official in the state and then sue only if the state fails to address the violation for some time—120 or 20 days, depending on how close to an election.
Who is ‘Aggrieved’?
Different federal courts have come up with somewhat different interpretations of who is “aggrieved” by a violation of election laws. Just recently, the Ninth Circuit rejected a suit by Republican voters which alleged that their votes were at risk of dilution by ineligible voters on Arizona’s voter rolls. The court held that the injury to the voters was “entirely hypothetical” and thus failing the requirements of the Constitution’s Article III. The article has been interpreted by courts to demand that harm to litigants must be “concrete and particularized” as well as “actual or imminent.”
Advocacy organizations have been using a claim that they have been harmed because they had to divert resources from their core functions, but a 2024 Supreme Court decision restricted that legal theory.
“An organization that has not suffered a concrete injury caused by a defendant’s action cannot spend its way into standing simply by expending money to gather information and advocate against the defendant’s action ,” said the opinion by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
At least some organizations may still be able to bring such suits. The Republican National Committee, for example, asserted that improper voter registrations in North Carolina forced them to divert resources from their core function of voter outreach into their election security efforts. The Fourth Circuit agreed in 2024 that this claim was sufficient to establish injury.
Lacking Votes
While the SAVE America Act enjoys the energetic support of President Donald Trump, it has hit a formidable roadblock in the Senate, where Republicans lack the 60 votes to overcome the Democratic filibuster. In addition, some GOP Senators have already indicated they don’t support the bill.
Trump has demanded the SAVE Act be included in a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which has been defunded for more than seven weeks. Democrats have blocked the funding, demanding reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation practices.
A month ago, the President also said won’t sign any other legislation until the SAVE Act is passed.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wouldn’t budge.
“If Trump is saying he won’t sign any bills until the SAVE Act is passed, then so be it: there will be total gridlock in the Senate ,” he said in an X post. “Senate Democrats will not help pass the SAVE Act under any circumstances.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) brought the bill to the floor last month for a vote to force Democrats to go on record with their opposition. Democrats did so unanimously.
The Senate has been on a two-week recess since March 26 and is expected to restart legislative agenda on April 13.
Some Republicans, including Trump, have called for a so-called talking filibuster, forcing Democrats to talk non-stop to block the bill’s passing. Thune said last month, however, he lacks the votes among Republicans to invoke it.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 04/08/2026 - 20:05 Close
Wed, 08 Apr 2026 23:40:00 +0000 "There Goes Your Inventory": Disgruntled Worker Sets Fire To Million-Square-Foot Toilet Paper Warehouse
"There Goes Your Inventory": Disgruntled Worker Sets Fire To Million-Square-Foot Toilet Paper Warehouse
Dramatic footage appears to show an act of industrial sabotage at a one-million-square-foot Kimberly-Clark distribution center i
Read more.....
"There Goes Your Inventory": Disgruntled Worker Sets Fire To Million-Square-Foot Toilet Paper Warehouse
Dramatic footage appears to show an act of industrial sabotage at a one-million-square-foot Kimberly-Clark distribution center in Ontario, California.
A third-party warehouse worker was arrested on suspicion of felony arson shortly after the devastating six-alarm fire on Tuesday morning, which destroyed all of the warehouse's contents, including household paper products such as Kleenex and toilet paper.
Local media outlet Fox 11 Los Angeles said Ontario police arrested Chamel Abdulkarim, 29, an employee of a third-party distribution partner, on suspicion of felony arson.
Video circulating on X allegedly shows Abdulkarim torching pallets of household paper products while uttering the words, "All you had to do was pay us enough to live."
In another scene, he said, "There goes your inventory."
Do not worry, Kimberly-Clark and its warehouse operators are almost certainly taking note. One of the long-term consequences of sabotage and labor unrest is that it strengthens the case for faster automation. The downside of revolt will be faster automation in warehouses to mitigate incidents like these.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 04/08/2026 - 19:40 Close