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The collapse of Hollywood has been on the radar for some time now, though the industry consistently and vehemently denies they are in decline.  The movie industry Titanic is sinking fast and the celebrity rats are abandoning the ship.  Some of are even leaving the US for foreign shores.  The media claims that the death of Hollywood is a signal that America is "no longer the cool country."

This was the narrative of Fortune Magazine in a recent article discussing the celebrity exodus from America and it's effect on the US as a center of "global culture."  The platform argues:

"An odd thing is happening as America, long a beacon worldwide as the defining destination for people in search of a new hope and a new life, is starting to feel like the “old country” that people quietly plan to leave behind. More than that, to be American is downright uncool..."

"...When Hollywood royalty decamps for Provence, remote workers swap Dallas for Berlin, and Gen Z wellness trends run through Beijing and Seoul instead of Brooklyn and Silver Lake, the pattern is hard to miss. America is starting to look, to its own citizens and to the next generation of cool-hunters, less like the future—and more like the old country you leave to build a different kind of life somewhere else..."

Fortune claims, for example, that George Clooney securing French citizenship and moving his family overseas sends a "strong message about the standing of the American Dream."  Of course, Clooney never said this.  He is quoted as wanting to protect his family from Hollywood culture.

"I was worried about raising our kids in L.A., in the culture of Hollywood. I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life. France - they kind of don’t give a sh*t about fame. I don’t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi. I don’t want them being compared to somebody else’s famous kids."

It is true, however, that some celebrities are fleeing the US and citing political concerns.  Aging entertainment icons like Ellen DeGeneres (and Portia de Rossi), Rosie O'Donnell, James Cameron, Eva Longoria, Kristen Stewart, America Ferrera, Minnie Driver, Robin Wright, Courtney Love and Richard Gere have all either relocated or they are planning to relocate in the near future.  Most of them have openly blamed the change in the US political climate as the reason. 

Fortune Magazine plays on this notion of Americans "escaping" to a better life, quoting the Statue of Liberty poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus and lamenting the fact that the US used to be the "beacon of light" for destitute migrants around the world looking for a better life.  Of course, Emma Lazarus was a feminist Zionist pushing a "melting pot" agenda of mass immigration that was never a legitimate foundation of American culture.

Hollywood politics are based on Utopian fantasies; pie in the sky vision of the way they think America is supposed to be.  What they don't want to talk about is the widespread popular rejection of this vision.  The real reason for the celebrity exodus is the implosion of the industry due to wokeness, which caused the majority of the public to walk away from theaters and stop spending money on content.  

Furthermore, Hollywood leftovers like Clooney, DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell are certainly not an example of "tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."  They are about as affluent and spoiled as any wealthy aristocrats from the "old countries" and far more uneducated in their political opinions.  At bottom, very few Americans are sad to see them go. 

The leftist media continues its campaign to portray the US as a dying nation - A consequence of Trump's election victory and the public's mass rejection of woke ideology in entertainment and politics.  It's another example of leftist narcissism; the notion that they are the culture and conservatives need them to "make the country cool". 

Outside of the US, however, average progressives are discovering they will not survive for long because they don't have stacks of movie star cash laying around.  This liberal woman went viral recently for "escaping" to Canada in fear of a "trans genocide", only to discover the Canadian housing market in shambles and prices far higher than she can possibly afford.  She is now begging Canadians for handouts.

PhD genius” liberal escapes fascist US hellscape to Canada as REFUGEE, now crowdfunding her new life with partner.

Guess the entitlement crosses borders too. Stay classy, commie academia. ???? pic.twitter.com/gHZcdUKQPB

— LetsGoBFLO (@HistorianUSA1) February 21, 2026

This same scenario has been repeated over and over again since the end of 2024.  Leftists in the US simply don't understand how good they have it until they leave.  They do not understand the economic malaise that suffocates many western nations today and the only way to live comfortably in these places is to garner success in America before shipping off to foreign shores. 

Woke American black woman moves to Africa and regrets it ?? pic.twitter.com/5ReH5gFnUk

— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) May 1, 2025

There's a reason why half the world's population keeps trying to sneak into the US.  Whether or not the country is still "cool" is irrelevant.  What matters is that so many other countries refuse to operate based on the same principles of individual freedom, meritocracy, free markets and self reliance that originally made the US so successful.  It might be that these cultures will never learn such lessons.    

This is what makes America the most sought after citizenship in the world, not leftist actors and progressive degenerates wagging their fingers at people for not sharing in their broken politics.  It's these same gatekeepers that are trying to tear down the ideals that make the US so attractive.  The more they leave the country, the better off everyone else will be.            

Yesterday we discussed the dramatic move in Korean stocks, which saw the Kospi tumble by 7.4%, its biggest drop since the August 2024 carry trade unwind, and which put a dramatic halt to the historic meltup in the country's stock market driven almost entirely by memory (Samsung and SK Hynix) and semiconductor stocks.

However, as we noted earlier this week when we pointed out the unprecedented pile up in the Korea ETF which was virtually identical to what happened in silver in January, just before the commodity crashed, the euphoric investor pile up in the main Korean index was screaming a "get me out of here" warning...

Korea ETF volume pic.twitter.com/9PSDyTXyHJ

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 2, 2026

... and one which suggested that the pain for Korean stocks was only starting.

That proved accurate because overnight the Kospi suffered its biggest drop in history, surpassing both the covid and Lehman crashes, plunging by over 12% (one day after tumbling by 7.4%) in a move that was accompanied by a circuit-breaking trading halt, broad-based degrossing and leveraged liquidations (similar to what happened in crypto on Oct 10 last year). In fact, the move briefly tipped the Kospi into a bear market after the index dropped more than 20% from its all time high reached just 2 days earlier!

As Bloomberg describes the carnage, "panic swept across trading desks in South Korea as local stocks, by far the hottest in the world over the past year, extended their selloff into Wednesday."  The report notes that the high-flying Kospi Index, which until last week was up 50% YTD (!) just suffered for its biggest two-day drop since 2008, and biggest one-day drop ever. The losses were driven by the heavyweights that had supercharged the market higher until last month — Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Hyundai Motor.

Trading in both Kospi and Kosdaq shares was suspended for 20 minutes after the gauges fell by the 8% circuit-breaking trigger. 

“Moves are too extreme so forecasting feels almost impossible — analysis doesn’t really help,” said An Hyungjin, chief executive officer at Seoul-based Billionfold Asset Management Inc. “Retail investors seem to hesitate as well, bids are fading since yesterday. While we’re picking quality names and hedging, this isn’t a clear opportunity.”

As South Korean stocks crashed, Bloomberg notes, panic spread through Seoul’s financial district. At the small downtown office of Mirae Asset Securities, scores of clients hurriedly lined up to get their money out.

Some in the crowd had snapped up stocks on leverage — part of the mania that had turned the market into a national pastime (as we frequently point out, Koreans are momentum kamikazes and pile up with reckless abandon into anything that goes up or down with a clear pattern) and made the Kospi the world’s top-performing benchmark — and they were now desperate to unload them as the war in Iran rocked the global economy. They gestured and shouted to get the attention of Mirae employees who could help them sell the positions they couldn’t unwind online. As they waited for help, their phones flashed ever-growing losses — the Kospi was down 8%, then 10%, then 12% — added to their angst.

Amusingly, just last week, the crowd of retail investors packing into offices like this one was rushing to buy stocks, and tap into the AI frenzy powering the Kospi to one new record high after another. Even the president, Lee Jae Myung, had put up his own apartment for sale to buy stocks.

But by the end of the long holiday weekend, the math looked very different. The US and Israeli strikes on Iran had sent energy prices skyrocketing globally, and few countries in the world are as dependent on oil and gas imports as Korea to power its economy.

All at once, that collective fervor among the retail crowd in Seoul - the ants, as they’re known - turned into collective dread.

Seongchan Kim, a Busan-based naval engineering student who invested the entirety of his 17 million won savings from his 18-month military service into equities last November, has also added more into the market. “I tried short-term trading before and lost heavily,” the 22-year old said.

Back at Mirae, an elderly woman was told to wait in line for an hour before she could see someone. She had no interest in talking. The leverage, the war, the promises of a rebound — nothing mattered at the moment. She just wanted out. 

The borrowed money that fueled much of those stock gains - similar to what the Korean "ants" did with bitcoin before the stock market euphoria truly exploded in late 2025 - added an accelerant to the rout. By the close on Wednesday, the two-day plunge in the Kospi had reached more than 18%, the worst loss globally. Some $625 billion in market value, much of it coming from high-flying tech names like Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc., had been wiped out.

“It was a ferocious sell off — clean out of hedge fund hotel. That’s a nickname for crowded longs we use,” said Matthew Haupt, portfolio manager at Wilson Asset Management in Sydney.

Yet even after the declines, the Kospi is still up 21% this year and among the world’s top performers. But the episode shows just how fast a market dominated by leveraged, margin-fueled bets and amped up by frenzied day traders can sour, exposing the risks of an investment culture that had come to treat borrowing as a sure thing to bigger gains.

As we joke frequently on our X account, in Korea, leverage has become almost synonymous with the 14-million-strong legion of ants, turning what could have been an orderly stock market slump into chaotic unwind. Margin debt at a record of more than 32 trillion won ($21 billion) had forced a number of brokers to halt new loans after they hit their credit cap.

While we warned repeatedly, like for example here on February 25 when we joked that at some point the government would have to bailout the market...

Kospi up another 1.8% in early trading.
BOK better get those Fed swap lines ready pic.twitter.com/737ef5fX8P

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 26, 2026

... "few others on Wall Street saw a move this severe coming" (not our words, Bloomberg's) . There were the naysayers who warned about the overheated valuations, the high margin, the impact of elevated oil prices on the big crude consuming nation. But there were also the pragmatists who believed that the global shortage of memory chips that fueled gains, combined with policy reforms and encouragement by President Lee, would deliver further gains.

“Korea’s moves are at least somewhat indicative of the equity markets finally starting to take this risk seriously,” Ajay Rajadhyaksha, global chairman of research at Barclays Capital Inc., said on Bloomberg TV. “For the first day, day and half, the markets were completely underpricing this risk.” 

Ironically, while we joked that a market bailout would be coming, one almost did arrive this morning, when Korea's Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eog-weon said that South Korea was "closely monitoring stock markets and will actively use its 100 trillion won market stabilization program in case of excessive market volatility." He added that the regulator would "closely monitor market-disruptive activities that may occur amid heightened volatility in the stock market; to strictly punish any violations."

Curious that he didn't make the same warning when it would have been much more useful, namely when retail investors were blowing their savings (and adding massive leverage) to pile into stocks, sowing the seeds for the Kospi's own momentum-drive destruction. 

To be sure, as we also warned previously, there were clear signs of trouble even before this week: foreign funds that had spurred the market for much of last year abruptly turned net sellers in February, dumping a record amount of Korean stocks...

... while local retail investors continued to pile in. 

Traders had also started swapping notes about certain funds bumping up against limits on their Korea exposure and various desks speculated about forced selling.

The rout in Korea accelerated this week even as global shares edged higher and oil dropped on hopes the war could be short lived. Those expectations have emboldened some investors, including Wilson Asset’s Haupt, to take a cautious long position. “Might not be for long, we will see. I just went long before it turned tactically oversold,” he said.

Which raises the question: after the biggest drop in history, is it time to buy the Kospi, if only looking for a short-term bounce? 

Well, according to Francois Theis at Goldman's EMEA desk, the answer is yes. This is how the desk frames it in a note published on Wednesday (available to pro subscribers):

18% correction, 2x circuit breakers, record single day loss (albeit both foreigners and retail turning net buyers today) and yet we are merely back to Feb 6th level on the KOSPI which remains the best performing index. 1 month of performance being unwound.

The context matters because as Goldman explains, Korea had been experiencing record net flow for 13th consecutive month and February was the highest monthly net inflows in Goldman PB record with net allocation in the GS Prime Book rising 170bps to 5.3% while gross allocation increasing to 2.85%. Both at all time highs here. In other words, everyone is in.

But to Goldman, that's not nearly enough. And this is how Goldman justifies calling it a bottom right here, right now: 

A painful short term cocktail around degrossing but the fundamentals haven’t changed and these moves represent an opportunity. In today’s presentation, our Chief Asia strategist Tim Moe reiterated his outlook for the KOSPI 120% EPS growth in light of hyperscale spending in U.S. (arguably this is decorrelated to geopolitics), macro and EPS outlook unchanged across Asia. With regards to oil price increase, he highlights how a $20/bbl rise in oil price could have a 2% cumulative negative on APAC regional earnings (but IF sustained throughout the year, this remains a big IF) and Korea is among the least affected by oil prices in the first place.

Holdcos discount have widened a bit (although interestingly not the double Holdco like SK Inc.) and pref underperformed ord in the 2x days route despite the fact that they were trading -29% and 47% respectively vs ord (Both Samsung & Hyundai pref ~-4% vs ord in 3x sessions).

In terms of execution, these are the trades Goldman likes:

• Korea pref vs ord given further dislocation; we expect DPS increase (correlation) and push to close discount (buyback on pref line?)
• Holdco. We have refreshed the monitor below post close (ty John Kwon) and the discount has widened slightly post mkt drawdown making it a better entry point. We continue to recommend a barbell approach: 50% SK Square (given 30% discount target) and 50% on holdcos with the widest discount to NAV
• GS Korea Greatest Hits (GSXAKHIT): Selective alpha sectors across Defense, Shipbuilding, Nuclear, Cosmetics, K-pop, AI, Hold Cos that will likely continue to be supported by both domestic and international policy trends, offering strong alpha-generation potential. It overweights Defense over AI (Samsung/Hynix) relative to Kospi2. 

For what it's worth, we don't know if this is the bottom for the Kospi. With massive leverage and gross exposure still embedded in the index, we doubt it and would suggest to wait for a much more powerful retracement before stepping in. We will, however, point out something else.

As we noted last month, the big disconnect in bitcoin with all other assets started when Korea's momentum kamikazes capitulated on bitcoin, especially after the Oct 10 meltdown, and started piling into memory stocks and the Kospi.

Well, as we said around the time Kospi was crashing last night, "watch what assets the money will rotate to" after retail got burned again.

Kospi resumes trading, promptly tumbles to -10%.

Watch what assets the money will rotate to. https://t.co/QMxzf1Q5U9

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 4, 2026

The answer: 

More in the Goldman note available to pro subscribers.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett has just lost her Democratic Senate primary in Texas to Democratic state lawmaker James Talarico, who will now try to become the first Democrat in nearly 40 years to win a Senate election in Texas. He will face the Republican winner between longtime incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Texas AG Ken Paxton. 

Crockett, a racist, who says that entering the USA illegally is 'not a crime' and is under FEC investigation for suspicious ActBlue donations, says she's going to file a lawsuit challenging the results due to alleged confusion among some voters in Dallas County over where they were supposed to vote. 

Speaking with supporters Tuesday night, she says that because of the confusion, "people have been disenfranchised," and that the outcome of the race wouldn't be known until Dallas County's votes are counted. 

As noted above, Cornyn and Paxton will advance to a runoff in the Texas Republican primary race, after neither candidate manged to receive 50% of the vote. 

Crenshaw Loses

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) also lost on Tuesday in his primary bid for the GOP nomination for Texas's 2nd Congressional District - losing to Steve Toth by 15.5 points. 

Toth repeatedly described Crenshaw as a "neocon" war hawk, while Crenshaw was notably the only House Republican in Texas not endorsed by President Trump (who just made the neocons very happy bombing Iran). Crenshaw voted for the 2024 bipartisan border bill, which received criticism from some Republicans and Trump, according to the Epoch Times.

Toth was endorsed by TPUSA, and if you wondered where he stands on Iran - he's a proud supporter of Israel and the Jewish People, and thanks Trump for protecting America from the Iranians. 

Babette and I are praying for our service men and women across the world as they bravely defend our freedom.°°Thank you, President Trump for your continued leadership and bold defense of the United States of America.°°Iran seeks the destruction of the United States and must… https://t.co/vJi7leRII3

— Steve Toth (@SteveTothTX) February 28, 2026

I will proudly stand with @Israel and the Jewish People. Israel can’t wait until Iran has turned the Middle East into a nuclear wasteland. They did the right thing, the right way.

I traveled to the Embassy in Washington post October 7th and saw first hand what Hamas/Iran did to… https://t.co/YGQV8WxVFP

— Steve Toth (@SteveTothTX) June 13, 2025

In other primary news (via the Epoch Times);

North Carolina: Whatley, Cooper Win NC Senate Nominations

The Senate matchup for the general election in North Carolina has been set, with former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley and former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper set to face off in November in a race that could determine which party controls the upper congressional chamber.

Whatley won the GOP primary, while Cooper won the Democratic primary, with both easily defeating challengers.

Endorsed by Trump, Whatley ran on getting North Carolina “back on track,” helping families make ends meet, creating jobs, and improving public safety.

During his campaign, Cooper talked about affordability and a ban on congressional stock trading.

House Races for Redrawn Districts

Voters also cast votes for candidates in districts that have had their boundaries altered by the mid-decade redistricting push undertaken nationwide since Texas redrew its maps in mid 2025.

In North Carolina’s First Congressional District, Republicans selected Laurie Buckhout as their nominee on March 3, setting up a November rematch against incumbent Rep. Don Davis (D-N.C.).

The district was altered to favor Republicans, though analysts still consider the seat competitive.

In Texas’s 28th Congressional District, Democratic incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar will face Republican Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina in a district that Republicans hope to flip this year.

The competitive South Texas congressional district is one of five in the state that Texas Republicans redrew in hopes of bolstering their party’s chances of maintaining control of Congress.

Tijerina, a former Major League Baseball player who has been endorsed by Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, is seen as a promising challenger in the redrawn district, which is almost 90 percent Hispanic.

In Texas’s 34th Congressional District, Trump-endorsed candidate Eric Flores defeated former Rep. Mayra Flores, setting up a match with incumbent Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas).

In 2022, Mayra Flores made headlines with a special election win in District 34 before the map was redrawn. Republicans pointed to her success as a sign of their growing strength among conservative Hispanic voters.

But after she lost to Gonzalez in 2022 and again in 2024, the party shifted toward a fresh start with a new candidate. Her opponent, Eric Flores, has gained the support of Trump and other Republican leaders.

As HeadlineUSA notes further;

Gonzales, who has said he won’t step down, entered the nation’s first big primary of 2026 under pressure from fellow House Republicans after published reports last month that alleged to show explicit text messages between him and the former staffer, who allegedly killed herself last year by lighting herself on fire.

Gonzales said in a recent social media post that he was being blackmailed and then suggested in another post that he is the target of “coordinated political attacks.”

The San Antonio Express-News reported that it had obtained text messages in which the former staffer, Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, wrote to a colleague that she had an affair with Gonzales.

The Associated Press has not independently obtained copies of the messages. An attorney for Adrian Aviles, Santos-Aviles’ husband, has said the husband found out about the affair before his wife’s death.

Santos-Aviles, 35, died in September 2025 after setting herself on fire in the backyard of her Uvalde home. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled her death a suicide.

Here are some of the most critical developments unfolding in the US-Iran conflict: 

• Kurdish Forces in Iraq have launched a ground military offensive into Iran against Iranian govt: i24News (unconfirmed)

• Netanyahu asked the White House if the Trump administration was secretly talking with Iran about a ceasefire after Israeli intelligence suspected possible communications. The White House denied any talks and said the U.S. had ignored messages sent by Iran through regional intermediaries: Axios

• Iran will target Israeli embassies if its embassy is hit: IRNA

• Iranian intelligence sends word to US on potential talks to end war, but US officials say no active negotiations: CNN reports

• Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian says no choice but to fight: Dear esteemed leaders of our friendly and neighboring countries, we have strived, with your assistance and through diplomacy, to avoid war. However, the American-Zionist military attack has left us with no choice but to defend ourselves. 

• Iran begins shift toward governing for a prolonged war: FARS/BBG

• Turkey says a ballistic ?missile fired Iran was destroyed by NATO systems in the ?eastern Mediterranean Sea. Hegseth dismisses Article 5 concerns. 

• Allegations that the ballistic missile was launched "at Incirlik Air Base" - which hosts NATO nukes.

• US Secretary of State Rubio says well on their way to achieving Iran mission objectives. Did the US just blink here?

• Putin notes that oil and gas prices are rising related to Mideast crisis.

• Airline Troubles in Region Compound as Flight Cancellations Surpass 20,000

• Hegseth floats new timeline up to eight weeks while saying as long as it takes

• If US and Israel pursue a ‘regime change’ scenario in practice, final effective missiles will target Dimona nuclear reactor and all regional energy infrastructure, via Iran Nuances citing a Senior Iranian military official

• Senior Iranian Cleric Javadi Amoli: shedding the blood of Israelis and Trump is what is required of devout Shi'ite Muslims", state media

• Western officials claim Iran could be 'days' from exhausting ballistic missile supply, but Pentagon also concerned about own stockpiles

• Israel and Hezbollah are now in a ground war in southern Lebanon.

* * *

Update(1310ET): There's been a bit of a back and forth all morning about whether Iran has reached out for potential talks with the US tend the war. Contradictory reporting has claimed there's been some kind of effort behind the scenes, but US officials are making clear that no active negotiations. Given that among the US objectives is full regime change, ending the operation now would be seen as a loss for the US-Israeli side. But Iran is not backing down, having declared via state media it is entering a prolonged war posture, and will govern the country accordingly.

Needless to say, with the earlier ballistic missile flight over Turkey, things are growing more dangerous by the hour:

Reminder: U.S. military keeps nuclear weapons at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey https://t.co/eaqSKfeijp

— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) March 4, 2026

TEHRAN TONIGHT

Tehran tonight pic.twitter.com/UjjGu5ctQl

— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) March 4, 2026

* * *

On Day 5 of the Trump-ordered Operation Epic Furry targeting Iran for regime change, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth declared the US is "winning" against Iran, signaling that additional American forces are en route and vowing Washington will take "all the time it needs" to secure 'victory'. But the instances of blowback are piling up at rapid pace.

This comes after President Trump himself suggested an open-ended timeline, but expressed that four or five weeks should do the job. Americans, however, might recall similar pledges were made at the start of the Iraq war, which ended up being a 20 year occupation and bloody quagmire. Recall that in 2002, Bush's then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared of impending Iraq operations: "Five days or five weeks or five months, but it certainly isn't going to last any longer than that...It won't be a World War III." With that in mind, Hegseth for the first time Wednesday suggested up to eight weeks.

Iranian state media is reporting that the death toll from U.S.-Israeli strikes has climbed to at least 1,045. US losses stand at (at least) six service members killed, with several critically wounded, but CENTCOM has yet to issue a new Wednesday casualty update. It also announced that a planned late-night ceremony in Tehran honoring Iran’s slain supreme leader was abruptly postponed, officially due to "logistical issues".

Two major developments impacting markets (also as the question of the Supreme Leader's successor lingers):

• Iran quietly reached out to the CIA a day after the attacks began to discuss ending the conflict, the NYT reported.
• The funeral of its late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which was to begin later today, has been postponed.
• U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth says war with Iran could last up to 8 weeks, saying U.S. and Israel expect to achieve “uncontested airspace” over the country “in under a week” and unleash “death and destruction from the sky all day long.”

However, Iran has since denied its intelligence ministry reached out to the CIA for talks, according to semi-official Tasnim.

The regional air war, including Iran's cross-Gulf retaliation has meanwhile intensified: Qatar says it intercepted 10 drones and two cruise missiles fired from Iran, while the UAE reports downing three missiles and 121 drones. But most alarming for the prospect of this war spreading is that Turkey confirmed a ballistic missile launched from Iran was destroyed by NATO air defenses over the eastern Mediterranean before entering Turkish airspace. Debris reportedly fell near Dortyol with no casualties.

Ankara warned: "We remind you that we reserve the right to respond to any hostile act towards our country," while urging all sides to avoid further escalation. This suggests that NATO, despite Mark Rutte having said NATO will not participate, could eventually enter the conflict.

In Lebanon, a government minister told Al Jazeera that 65,000 people have registered in shelters following intensified Israeli strikes, which has seen the capital of Beirut getting pummeled by Israeli jets once again.

Across the region, escalation continues to spillover. At least ten tankers are reportedly burning in or near the Strait of Hormuz, a kamikaze drone boat strike targeted a Russian shadow-fleet LNG tanker in the Mediterranean, and an Iranian vessel sank off Sri Lanka’s coast in what local officials described as a submarine attack.

Also, the US has closed embassies in three countries, reduced diplomatic staffing across the region, and urged Americans to leave. The UAE announced new emergency air corridors to assist evacuations, and a belated State Dept evacuation of US citizens from the region is currently underway.

??Tehran moments ago pic.twitter.com/BJMqZjsSAE

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) March 4, 2026

According to The Washington Post, a suspected Iranian drone strike hit the CIA station inside the US Embassy compound in Riyadh. While U.S. and Saudi officials confirmed two drones struck the embassy grounds, they did not publicly disclose the CIA facility was among the targets.

The NY Times is detailing, with satellite and open-source image analysis, that the Pentagon's sophisticated radar and comms infrastructure around the Persian Gulf is being steadily reduced and decimated by Iran's response:

Iranian strikes conducted over the weekend and on Monday damaged structures that are part of or near communication and radar systems on at least seven U.S. military sites across the Middle East, according to a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery and verified videos.

Visuals show damage on or close to mechanisms used to track incoming ballistic missiles, satellite dishes and radomes, which are weatherproof covers that protect sensitive equipment used by forces to communicate over long distances.

U.S. military communication infrastructure is highly classified, making it difficult to determine which exact systems may have been affected. But the targeted locations appear to indicate Iran was aiming to disrupt the U.S. military’s ability to communicate and coordinate. Iran has attacked the U.S. military’s communication capacity as recently as last June, when it struck a Qatari base it hit again over the weekend.

Strikes potentially affecting these systems also occurred on military facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

???????? The New York Times — not a Telegram channel, not a Russian state broadcaster, the New York Times — has published satellite imagery confirming what Iran said it was doing while Washington was busy telling you it wasn’t working. Every major US base across the Gulf.… https://t.co/5h1I3HNi15 pic.twitter.com/6yQm9uiOPR

— THE ISLANDER (@IslanderWORLD) March 4, 2026

Inside Iran, an attack on a manufacturing site in Alvand wounded 23 people, with six killed across Qazvin province, according to local officials.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said satellite imagery shows "no damage to facilities containing nuclear material in Iran and therefore no radiological release risk at this time." It added: "Near Isfahan nuclear site, damage is visible at two buildings. No additional impact detected at Natanz… and no impact at other nuclear sites, including Bushehr NPP."

Israeli officials are framing the war as a leadership decapitation campaign, arguing Iran should be treated like a non-state actor. Israeli military sources now expect at least two more weeks of bombardment aimed at "softening the ground" for potential internal unrest in Tehran. Israel and the US are already warning that they will take out the next Ayatollah.

The US Joint Chiefs announced in a Pentagon briefing with Hegseth stands ready to strike deeper into Iranian territory, and that forces are shifting to from large to more precision strikes across Iran.

US Department of War issued the below map showing "The first 100 hours" of the operation:

Israel and the US are noticeably blowing up border installations and striking IRGC and government facilities particularly in places where Iran's minority Kurdish population is dominant. This appears to be in preparation for a reported CIA-Israel plan to back the Kurds who are being prodded to foment civil war in Iran.

This suggests some covert planners have a Syria/Libya sectarian divide plan in mind to further weaken and destabilize the Islamic Republic, also as Washington and Tel Aviv's proxy 'boots on the ground' in the fight.

US officials are skeptical of either Iran's or the US' willingness to off-ramp in the short term, relating to Iran's Intelligence Ministry reportedly reaching out to the CIA indirectly a day after the conflict started with an offer to discuss terms, NYT reports.

However...

Hegseth on Iran:

None of our objectives are premised on the support or the arming of any particular force. pic.twitter.com/BuuFNiO1nT

— Russian Market (@runews) March 4, 2026

Meanwhile some Democratic lawmakers blasted Trump's justification for the strikes, warning the US risks sliding toward a ground invasion and an "open-ended engagement with no end in sight."

Israel continues to get hit hard, as Iranian ballistic missiles - and reportedly some hypersonics - continue to slip past anti-air defenses. As a result, Israel's Finance Ministry estimates economic damage from the war could reach some 9 billion shekels ($2.9 billion) per week.

Meanwhile, there's been widespread criticisms and questions surrounding the administration's emphasis on protecting Israel, and all the while Congress has yet to formally debate or vote on war, per the Constitution...

Trump just said that if your cost of living goes up because he bombed Iran, it’s worth it cause Israel is safe.
pic.twitter.com/IyipPznjkV

— Parody Jeff (@BackupJeffx) March 4, 2026

Clearly, what was initially touted by Washington as an attack that would be 'limited' is is now metastasizing across multiple theaters - including Gulf energy routes, Eastern Mediterranean shipping lanes, and NATO airspace - with both sides signaling they are prepared for a long fight.

Authored by Siri Terjesen & Michael Ryall via The Epoch Times,

While Sacramento legislators debate how to extract more money from residents who are already leaving, Tallahassee legislators are moving in the opposite direction. The fiscal philosophies now playing out in California and Florida represent the starkest tax policy divergence in modern American history—and the numbers tell the story.

In California, there is a $12 billion budget deficit, the product of spending commitments that expanded faster than the revenue base meant to fund them. The legislative response, rather than spending restraint, has been a parade of wealth tax proposals. The latest—Initiative 25-0024, the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act—would impose a one-time 5 percent excise tax on the net worth of California residents exceeding $1 billion as of Jan. 1, 2026. Applied to the state’s approximately 200 billionaires, the measure is projected to raise roughly $100 billion, with 90 percent directed to Medi-Cal.

The details deserve scrutiny. The tax is retroactive: Liability attaches as of Jan. 1, 2026, but the measure cannot be enacted until after a November 2026 election, meaning the law would penalize conduct before the law formally exists. Legal analysts have identified constitutional vulnerabilities on due process, the Dormant Commerce Clause, and uniformity—making the measure’s survival uncertain. More practically, the California Legislative Analyst’s Office has warned that if even a fraction of targeted billionaires depart, the income tax revenue they currently pay disappears with them. The top 1 percent of California taxpayers already account for more than 40 percent of state personal income tax receipts. The margin for error is thin.

This is not California’s first attempt. Assembly Bills 259, 2289, 310, and 2088—all wealth tax proposals—have been introduced and abandoned in the past five years. One proposed exit provision would have continued taxing departing residents for up to 10 years after leaving. The structure prompted one legal commentator to invoke the lyric from “Hotel California”: you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave—fiscally speaking.

The market is responding. Google co-founder Larry Page has reportedly registered Florida LLCs and many other billionaire tech founder CEOs are exploring a move outside California, including Peter Thiel, Sergey Brin, and Mark Zuckerberg. These are rational responses to a state signaling that accumulated wealth is a resource to be liquidated before its owners can move it elsewhere.

Now consider Florida, in which the policy signals are vastly different. The state already has no income tax—a structural advantage that has driven a decade of net migration from high-tax states. Governor Ron DeSantis is now pushing further: a constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot that would eliminate property taxes on homesteaded primary residences. The Florida House passed HJR 203 on Feb. 19, 2025, by an 80–30 party-line vote. If the Senate concurs and 60 percent of voters approve, Florida would become the first state in American history with neither an income tax nor property taxes on primary residences.

The fiscal challenge is real. Property taxes generate roughly $55 billion annually in Florida, funding significant county and municipal services. Critics argue that eliminating them would necessitate either dramatic service cuts or offsetting revenue increases—potentially raising the state sales tax from 6 percent toward 12 percent. Governor DeSantis disputes this, pointing to budget surpluses and government waste that can be redirected. That debate will play out in Tallahassee and at the ballot box.

But the directional signal is unmistakable. California responds to budget pressure by widening the net it casts on wealth. Florida responds by asking whether the net needs to exist at all.

The migration data confirm which model high earners find more credible—and reveal the fiscal irony California is engineering for itself. IRS data show that over the past decade, California has lost $14.5 billion in tax revenue to interstate migration, while Florida has gained $4.1 billion. Goldman Sachs Research, analyzing IRS filings from 2017 to 2023, found that 4 percent of households with more than $1 million in adjusted gross income changed states during that period, with large outflows from California and substantial inflows to Florida—a trend that was still accelerating in 2022 and 2023. Goldman Sachs estimates that tax-driven emigration has already reduced California’s tax revenue by up to 3 percent. U-Haul’s 2025 Growth Index ranked California the top outbound state for the second consecutive year and Florida the second-best inbound (behind Texas).

Every high-income household that relocates from Sacramento to South Florida takes its future income tax payments—and its business payroll—with it. California’s proposed billionaire tax may be designed to prevent that exit; the evidence suggests it will accelerate it instead.

A new pricing analysis from Consumer Reports suggests shoppers may find better deals than expected—sometimes well below Walmart’s prices.

The February study, carried out by the New York–based Strategic Resource Group, compared grocery baskets in six major metro areas across the U.S. Walmart, the nation’s largest and most widespread grocer, served as the pricing benchmark. Researchers ranked major supermarket chains—along with several warehouse clubs and specialty stores—based on how their total basket costs stacked up against Walmart’s.

The baskets included a mix of packaged goods, produce, and meat. However, basket sizes varied depending on what each store carried. Comparisons were most comprehensive among mainstream grocers that stock a broad range of identical national brands. Stores that emphasize private-label products or specialty items had fewer overlapping products with Walmart, resulting in smaller comparison baskets.

For instance, in the Chicago-area portion of the study, baskets at chains such as Food4Less, Jewel-Osco, Mariano’s, Meijer, Target, and Walmart each included 56 items. By contrast, Trader Joe’s basket there included just 23 comparable products.

Price differences were significant. Among warehouse clubs, Costco Wholesale and BJ’s Wholesale Club offered the steepest discounts—both averaging 21% less than Walmart. Alabama shoppers can access both chains, with Costco planning a new Irondale location and BJ’s expanding in Foley.

Discount grocers Aldi and Lidl were also cheaper, coming in a little over 8% below Walmart. Aldi continues to expand in Alabama, including converting former Winn-Dixie stores, while Lidl does not operate in the state.

On the higher end, Target averaged 5.9% more than Walmart, followed by Kroger (14.8%), Publix (20.3%), Piggly Wiggly (22.6%), and Trader Joe’s (24.6%). Whole Foods Market was the priciest, at nearly 40% above Walmart.

Overall, the gap between the least and most expensive mainstream supermarkets reached 33%, widening further when warehouse clubs were included. One notable omission from the rankings was Sam’s Club, which was not included in the survey without explanation.

Consumer Reports acknowledged that stores with limited assortments were harder to compare directly. Whole Foods also pushed back, arguing the analysis did not account for its quality standards, recent price reductions, or member perks.