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Sun, 21 Jun 2026 05:52:08 +0000 UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer Expected To Resign On Monday: Report
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer Expected To Resign On Monday: Report
Keir Starmer's premiership appears to have entered its final act. Just over a week after Andy Burnham stormed back into Parliament with a
Read more.....
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer Expected To Resign On Monday: Report
Keir Starmer's premiership appears to have entered its final act. Just over a week after Andy Burnham stormed back into Parliament with a crushing by-election win, the Prime Minister is - according to senior Labour figures cited by The Observer
Peter Macdiarmid/Pool via REUTERS It would be a remarkable collapse. Starmer led Labour to a landslide less than two years ago. He now looks unable to command the confidence of his own benches for much longer, with cabinet ministers, union leaders and donors reportedly among those who have been involved in the conversations about his future.
Burnham, the outgoing Greater Manchester mayor, did not just win Makerfield - he buried it. Official figures show him taking 24,927 votes, 54.8% of the total, beating Reform UK's Rob Kenyon by a 9,231-vote margin in a seat where Nigel Farage's party had been threatening to turn Labour's crisis into a rout. The result gives Burnham the Commons seat he needs, clears his path to a leadership challenge, and leaves Starmer's position looking terminal.
Also, Starmer's former Chief of Staff - Morgan McSweeney - was the sacrificial lamb in the Mandelson scandal (recall that Starmer appointed Jeffery Epstein pal Peter Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the US). McSweeney also targeted Zerohedge , The Federalist and Breitbart in a clandestine campaign against alternative-media outlets. He resigned in February, two weeks before Mandelson was arrested on suspicion of passing insider info to Jeffrey Epstein in 2009, when he was serving as Business Secretary.
Markets Eye The Monday Open
The political risk did not go unnoticed by bond traders. UK 10-year gilt yields climbed to 4.84% on Friday, up roughly 0.09 percentage points on the session, as markets weighed Burnham's victory, domestic political uncertainty, and the possible fiscal implications of a future leadership bid.
With markets shut over the weekend, the next read comes at Monday's open, and any Starmer statement setting out an exit timetable will land straight into it.
Starmer out by June 22, 2026? View full market & trade on Polymarket Burnham is due to be sworn in as an MP on Monday and to meet Starmer early in the week , with a cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Senior Labour figures expect a "deliberate slow march in good order" - most likely a September handover timed to the party conference - rather than an immediate vacuum.
According to the report, Burnham's supporters claim he has secured backing from more than 201 Labour MPs if Starmer refuses to step down voluntarily. The Observer framed that as a critical number because it would represent more than half the Parliamentary Labour party and would make it increasingly difficult for Starmer to argue that he still commands the confidence of his own side.
A formal challenge requires far fewer names . Under Labour's rules, any challenger needs nominations from 20% of Labour MPs - currently 81 - plus the required support from local parties and affiliates. On every count, the door is open.
Starmer Digging In?
For now, at least in public, Starmer is not going quietly. On Friday he congratulated Burnham on X - framing the result as a win for "Labour's campaign of hope and optimism over division and hate" - while insisting he would stand in any leadership contest and still had "more to do."
By Saturday the mood music had shifted. The Observer reports that Starmer was spending the weekend at Chequers with his wife, Victoria, weighing his future after a round of conversations with cabinet ministers, advisers, union bosses and donors.
One Labour peer close to the Prime Minister told the paper that Starmer would not "walk away" from No. 10 creating a vacuum, but would instead "arrange a deliberate slow march in good order, as a matter of duty and dignity." Another Labour grandee said the Prime Minister now appeared "resigned" to stepping down after coming "hard against the reality that the support isn't there."
The establishment knives are out. Lord Falconer - Starmer's own former shadow attorney general - told the BBC that the Prime Minister had "absolutely no authority left because everybody assumes Andy Burnham is about to challenge for the leadership and everybody assumes he's going to win."
Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who remains the obvious alternative pole of opposition inside the party, publicly hailed Burnham's result even as allies insisted he still intends to stand in any contest.
Even the money is moving. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said "obviously Starmer needs to go," calling for an orderly transition on a clear timetable and a conversation about Labour's policy priorities.
Streeting's allies, meanwhile, are still talking as though the fight is alive. The Observer reported he has taken out a contract on an office for 40 members of staff as campaign headquarters and has received two £50,000 donations from Fran Perrin, one of Labour's most generous supporters. But some senior Labour figures now believe Streeting may ultimately do a deal with Burnham rather than stand in the way of the momentum.
"A Final Chance To Change"
Burnham's victory speech left no doubt about the scale of his ambition, even if he stopped short of formally launching the challenge. "Tonight could - just could - be the turning point," he told supporters, warning Labour it had a "final chance to change" with "no second chance."
There was also some weirdness: animal-rights campaigner Robert Pownall, who ran as an independent, and Count Binface, the bin-headed "intergalactic space warrior," who took 95 votes.
Mandlelson & Epstein
Burnham's win was the trigger, but the charge had been laid months earlier. The slow detonation of Starmer's authority traces back to his decision, in December 2024, to hand the plum Washington ambassadorship to Peter Mandelson despite Mandelson's long-public friendship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson was sacked as ambassador in September 2025 after released material appeared to show a closer relationship with Epstein than had been acknowledged at the time of appointment. He was later arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office over allegations that sensitive government information had been passed to Epstein during the 2008-2010 financial crisis . Mandelson has denied wrongdoing, has not been charged, and the police investigation is ongoing.
Starmer claimed Mandelson had lied throughout the appointment process - however it later emerged that he knew full well of the friendship .
By then the damage was structural: his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney had resigned over the affair, a top Foreign Office mandarin was on the way out, and the government had spent months bleeding credibility through document dumps, a vetting row, sleaze-inquiry pressure and a steady drip of resignations.
No. 10 is still batting the resignation talk away as "speculation," and Starmer's team insists he will fight any challenge. On Friday, the Prime Minister told staff the party had to "pull together" and "take the fight" to Reform.
But the shape of the problem is brutal: Burnham has the seat, his allies claim the numbers, cabinet ministers are turning, the unions are turning, and Reform UK remains the threat Labour MPs increasingly believe only Burnham can blunt.
If Starmer steps to a podium on Monday and sets out an exit timetable, it will cap an extraordinary fall - from landslide to forced retreat in under two years - and crack open the door for the man they call the "King of the North" to walk through it.
Maybe if Starmer had addressed unchecked migration, England's woke police, or the rape gangs his CoS tried to get us demonetized for reporting on...
Tyler Durden Sun, 06/21/2026 - 01:52 Close Sun, 21 Jun 2026 03:20:00 +0000 Are iPhones Dialing Up The Birth Dearth?
Are iPhones Dialing Up The Birth Dearth?
Are iPhones Dialing Up The Birth Dearth?
Authored by Thaddeus G. McCotter via American Greatness,
When I call you up, your line’s engaged
I have had enough, so act your age
We have lost the time that was so hard to find
And I will lose my mind
If you won’t see me . . .
Time after time
You refuse to even listen
I wouldn’t mind
If I knew what I was missing
—The Beatles, “You Won’t See Me ”
As one heads into senescence, the milestones begin to fade in the rearview mirror. Yet every now and again, something jars the memory to refocus your recognition of such milestones and on how time has truly flown.
Recently, I was reminded that nearly an entire generation of Americans has been born after the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. As a Gen Xer born before the introduction of the answering machine, I felt the weight of my sixty years, along with a gnawing anxiety about the future.
No, not because I won’t be around all that much longer. Despite the myths of the ubiquitous cult of youth promoted by our callow commercial culture, the increasing aches and pains accompanying my journey into old age are an insistent reminder that no one lives forever. Rather, my concern is how few Americans will be born to replace me and the other older members of our aging nation.
As reported by Elise Winland in Zeale News , a new study suggests the 2007 introduction of the iPhone has played a significant role in the declining U.S. fertility rate.
Written by Caitlin K. Myers and Ezekiel Hooper and issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the title of the working paper says it all: “Is the iPhone Birth Control? Causal Evidence from AT&T’s 2007–2011 Carrier Monopoly.”
The study’s methodology is straightforward, as are its implications for our nation. As succinctly explained by Ms. Winland: “The paper draws on a natural experiment created by Apple’s exclusive deal with AT&T. When the iPhone launched in June 2007, it was available only on AT&T’s network until February 2011, giving researchers a way to compare areas with different levels of early iPhone access.”
While this deal was fortuitous for the researchers, the consequences were disastrous for the nation’s birth rate. According to Myers and Hooper:
The diffusion of the iPhone deepened the decline in births among women under 30 while suppressing the rise in births among older women. Overall, the diffusion of the iPhone explains 33–52% of the decline in the general fertility rate among women aged 15–44. National-survey evidence on time use and sexual behavior is consistent with the iPhone reducing in-person interactions, increasing pornography use, and reducing sexual frequency.
Importantly, Myers and Hooper are not asserting that the iPhone is the sole cause of the steep decline in America’s birth rate, which they cite as having dropped by 22 percent since 2007, again, the year of the iPhone’s introduction. For, as Winland notes, the researchers believe the nation’s record low birth rate of 53.1 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 “cannot be fully explained by the common explanations such as the Great Recession, increased access to contraception, rising housing and childcare costs, and delayed marriage.”
The researchers do argue that “studies imply that access to the iPhone reduced births by 4.5–8.0% at ages 15–19 and 3.2–6.6% at ages 20–24, with statistically significant but smaller declines among older cohorts.” (It is worth noting that the iPhone had a salubrious impact on reducing teen pregnancies; however, the enduring detrimental effects stemming from the loss of social interaction and its accompanying skills will be carried into the future by today’s teens.)
Anyone with a cursory acquaintance with Marshall McLuhan’s work will see his dictum, “the medium is the message,” at work here. Every new technology affects human beings, both in how they interact with that technology and in how they subsequently interact—or fail to interact—with other people by using it.
The math—specifically subtraction—is elementary: by spending more time in your virtual cocoon, you have less time for interacting with real human beings. One must therefore consider how much of the iPhone’s contribution to the birth dearth stems from the technology’s unconscious effects on its users. Indeed, unlike, say, birth control or a career choice, the iPhone is not being used deliberately to delay or prevent pregnancy. Rather, the birth dearth is exacerbated because the iPhone user is more rapt with the device and the stimulation it provides than by another person. After all, there are only so many hours in the day—and night.
Meanwhile, the birth rate continues its decline. It is an indicator of national health. An optimistic, future-oriented nation has at least a replacement birth rate, if not a growing one. A declining nation has a declining birth rate. In America today, the atomization of our citizenry and its accompanying anomie continue apace, as algorithmically personalized prison cells push us out of gen pop and into solitary confinement. Thus does the insidious, circular logic of the siren song of decline become the mantra: life is unfair, inequitable, and horrible, so it is better—in fact, virtuous—not to bring a new life into this morass of meaninglessness.
The result of this is the declining birth rate found in both the United States and Europe, where the apostles of postmodernism hold sway, filling the perceived vacuity of modernity with a creed that holds the most “tolerant” belief is to believe in nothing—including one’s inherited civilization. A postmodern generation taught to loathe itself does not care to procreate. For what better way to reject the meaningless future than by making sure there are no succeeding generations to perpetuate it?
While my bachelor’s degree is only in political science, and despite all the technological advances during my lifetime—including the internet, social media, AI, and the answering machine—I nonetheless feel confident in declaring, “You can only make a baby in the real world.”
A healthy nation prizes real life over a virtual world. It doesn’t have a birth dearth. And I’m inclined to believe it has more answering machines—or at least call waiting—and fewer smartphones.
I had to interrupt and stop this conversation
Your voice across the line gives me a strange sensation
I’d like to talk when I can show you my affection
Oh, I can’t control myself . . .
Don’t leave me hanging on the telephone
Hang up and run to me
Oh, hang up and run to me.
—Blondie, “Hanging on the Telephone ”
Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 23:20 Close Sun, 21 Jun 2026 02:45:00 +0000 'Syria & Turkey Represent Bigger Threat To Israel Than Iran': Israeli Minister
'Syria & Turkey Represent Bigger Threat To Israel Than Iran': Israeli Minister
'Syria & Turkey Represent Bigger Threat To Israel Than Iran': Israeli Minister
Via The Cradle
Late this week Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli declared in an interview with Israeli Army Radio that Tel Aviv "will be at war with Syria sooner or later ," highlighting that the alliance between Damascus and Turkey poses a "strategic challenge" to his country.
The Likud official said, "There is no way that a jihadist regime rooted in ISIS and Al-Qaeda, whose aspiration is the unification of Jerusalem, can live in peace alongside the State of Israel."
In a separate interview with Kol Barama, a prominent Israeli ultra-Orthodox radio station, Chikli identified Syria as part of a "radical Sunni axis of evil" involving Qatar, Turkiye, and Pakistan , labeling it "far more troubling" than Iran , and claimed that these nations shaped a recent US–Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) intended to end regional hostilities.
While Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the memorandum as an “important development,” Chikli joined other Likud lawmakers in branding Turkiye an “enemy state.”
He claimed that Turkiye holds “very clear ambitions” compromising Israeli interests, saying that Ankara and Damascus are “ten thousand times more concerning than Iran.”
Following the ousting of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the Israeli military continues to occupy Syrian land and destroy military equipment, using the new government as a pretext for escalation and territorial expansion.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now demands total demilitarization from south Damascus to the 1973 demarcation line. Since December 2024, Israeli military violations in southern Syria have escalated beyond periodic airstrikes to a sustained campaign involving ground incursions , raids, and the establishment of checkpoints.
According to a daily tracker launched by Levant24 , Israeli forces have carried out approximately 1,128 ground incursions and 1,055 airstrikes, advancing more than 20 kilometers beyond the occupied Golan Heights . These actions have resulted in over 197 detentions and at least 36 fatalities.
This expansion also includes property destruction and the systematic mapping of military positions, reflecting a broader pattern of activity that extends deep into Syrian territory.
Self-appointed Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa is reportedly resisting intense pressure from the US to launch a military incursion into Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah.
Despite a framework proposed by US President Donald Trump for the Syrian military to lead this offensive, Sharaa remained “unprepared and unwilling,” according to Israel’s Broadcasting Corporation (KAN). He cited concerns that such an attack would damage his regional legitimacy by appearing to serve Israeli interests, especially while Israel continues to occupy Syrian territory.
Although US envoy Tom Barrack has threatened Lebanon with a Syrian assault to dismantle Hezbollah, Sharaa has dismissed the reports as “rumors,” asserting his goal is to end the war rather than expand it .
Israeli War Minister Israel Katz told Channel 14 that “We do not need Julani. Julani, the terrorist in a suit , does not need to come and help us. We know Syria well. He is not going to help us in Lebanon.” He added that Sharaa “should stay in Syria, not interfere with us, and not make us interfere with him.”
“Do you know what really hurts the jihadists?” Katz said, going on to assert that killing them would not hurt them as much as “when you take territory from them and destroy their homes – and that's what we did.”
Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 22:45 Close Sun, 21 Jun 2026 02:10:00 +0000 In Defense Of Entrepreneurs
In Defense Of Entrepreneurs
In Defense Of Entrepreneurs
By Matthew J. Brouillette via RealClearPennsylvania ,
Like clockwork, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) is again finding America's billionaires guilty by reason of existence , arguing the Elon Musks and Jeff Bezos of the world must donate more to the government via higher taxes.
Her premise is that the wealthy don't pay their "fair share," leaving the non-wealthy to suffer in a zero-sum game.
The problem is that Warren, and the many others in Congress like her, aren't simply attacking the wealthy; they are attacking the foundation of America's greatness - entrepreneurs.
Remember, "entrepreneurs" founded this great nation almost 250 years ago when they pledged their lives, the fortunes, and their sacred honor. Many of them were wealthy because they produced goods or services their fellow colonists voluntarily purchased.
Consider, for a moment, some of the wealthiest people in America: Elon Musk, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, Michael Dell, and Mark Zuckerberg. Beyond eye-popping net worths, they, too, are entrepreneurs who have provided goods and services consumers voluntarily use every day.
And like entrepreneurs throughout American history, they have delivered transformative innovations employed not only across America but throughout the world.
Think about it: Did you Google something today? Have you ordered from Amazon recently? Did you log onto Instagram? The answer to at least one of these questions is probably, "Yes."
And what of the millions of people employed by Google, Amazon, Tesla, SpaceX, Meta, Oracle, and other companies led by America's most wealthy? Do their families benefit from the career opportunities created by these entrepreneurs? Of course they do.
These benefits can even turn into windfalls. For example, The Wall Street Journal recently reported that once SpaceX goes public, thousands of current and former employees - from engineers to baristas - will reap the sizeable reward.
Benefitting the greater good is not the purview only of ultra wealthy entrepreneurs. Just look at entrepreneurs in your community. The owner of your favorite restaurant. Or your barber. Or plumber.
You've undoubtedly relied on these folks for either critical or quality-of-life services. And their entrepreneurship has also created jobs and sustained families. In fact, these types of local businesses are often considered the engines of America's Main Street economy - making our communities thrive, giving our neighborhoods unique character, and improving all of our lives.
And this doesn't even touch on the philanthropic contributions entrepreneurs make. Who often sponsors local community events that raise funds for non-profit causes? The businesses founded and run by entrepreneurs. This isn't coincidental.
A report by Fidelity Charitable on entrepreneurs as philanthropists found, "On average, the median annual gift for entrepreneurs is 50% higher than non-entrepreneurs." Further, "Two-thirds of entrepreneurs volunteer two or more hours a month, compared with just more than half of non-entrepreneurs."
You may wonder what this has to do with Ms. Warren's white whale of wealth taxes.
In a word, everything.
For the difference between these local entrepreneurs and the targets of Warren's ire is not one of type but simply degree.
The spirit of risk taking, innovation, ingenuity, and philanthropy characterizes entrepreneurs both famous and not.
And it shouldn't need repeating - but it does - that the wealthy already pay a lion's share of taxes, with the top 10% of earners paying more than 70% of all federal personal income taxes.
As we celebrate America's 250th birthday, it only makes sense to recognize that entrepreneurs founded and built our great country into what we are today. And entrepreneurs will help us keep it.
Rather than demonizing entrepreneurs by arguing that shouldering 70% of taxes isn't enough, we should acknowledge them and thank them for making America the leading innovator of the world - and for doing far more than their "fair share" to improve the lives and livelihoods of individuals of families across America.
Matthew J. Brouillette is president and CEO of Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs and the author of You GOTTA win Pennsylvania! A call to entrepreneurs to save America.
Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 22:10 Close Sun, 21 Jun 2026 01:35:00 +0000 Trump Reiterates Ukraine War Would Never Have Started If Russia Remained In G8, Blasts Obama
Trump Reiterates Ukraine War Would Never Have Started If Russia Remained In G8, Blasts Obama
This isn't the first time that President Trump has said something like this, but he's newly explained in a wide-ranging fresh interview wit
Read more.....
Trump Reiterates Ukraine War Would Never Have Started If Russia Remained In G8, Blasts Obama
This isn't the first time that President Trump has said something like this, but he's newly explained in a wide-ranging fresh interview with Axios published Friday his view that the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine likely would likely have been averted if Russia had remained a member of the then-Group of Eight (G8) .
"You probably wouldn't have the war with Russia and Ukraine if they did," Trump told the publication, referring to the decision to expel Moscow, making the group the G7.
The forum "would have been much better" had it maintained its original structure, with Russia included. He laid ultimate blame in the fresh remarks on former President Barack Obama.
It was during the Obama administration, in 2014, that Washington pushed allies to expel Russia from the group of leading economies over its takeover of Crimea through a 'popular referendum'.
Trump this week attended G7 Summit held in Evian-les-Bains, France. "They should have kept the G8. You probably wouldn't have the war with Russia and Ukraine if they did, but Obama didn’t want Putin there," Trump said .
via Associated Press "It used to be the G8. (It) would have been much better if they kept that that way," he added. Again, this is not the first time he's articulated this view :
Trump has expressed this position before — in June 2025, he made a similar statement, blaming Obama and former Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau for Russia’s exclusion from the G8.
He's long attacked Biden and the Democrats for setting the conditions for the war to start. But beginning a year ago he also started basically blaming everyone - from Zelensky to Putin to Biden.
"That’s a war that should have never been allowed to start and Biden could have stopped it and Zelensky could have stopped it and Putin should have never started it ," Trump said last year. "Everybody is to blame."
Trump added at the time: "If Biden were competent and if Zelensky were competent, and I don’t know that he is, we had a rough session with this guy — he just kept asking for more and more ."
As for Putin, he has seemed to welcome this repeat rhetoric from Trump stating that Russia should belong to the G7/G8. Without doubt, Moscow would welcome an invitation back in.
Among Russia's conditions for final peace settlement in Ukraine, a prospect which still seems a long way off, would be the lifting of US and EU sanctions, and readmittance to the global economy.
Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 21:35 Close Sun, 21 Jun 2026 01:00:00 +0000 How It Took Nine Months To Remove One Illegal Alien From Voter Rolls
How It Took Nine Months To Remove One Illegal Alien From Voter Rolls
How It Took Nine Months To Remove One Illegal Alien From Voter Rolls
Submitted by Maryland Freedom Caucus ,
Nine months after the Maryland Freedom Caucus exposed that a noncitizen with a final order of deportation had been registered to vote in Maryland, Ian Roberts has finally—and quietly—been removed from the state's active voter registration list.
There was no press conference. No public announcement. No admission that anything had gone wrong.
The removal comes only after Roberts was convicted and sentenced on federal charges related to falsely claiming U.S. citizenship. For years, Roberts remained an active voter in Maryland despite being an illegal alien from Guyana who overstayed his student visa and despite having left the state more than a decade ago.
The timing raises an obvious question: if a criminal conviction was necessary before election officials would finally remove Roberts from the voter rolls, how many other ineligible registrations remain untouched?
The Roberts case placed Maryland into national news after the Maryland Freedom Caucus uncovered evidence that he was not only unlawfully present in the United States, but had also been registered to vote in Maryland.
Roberts was hardly an obscure figure. He served as superintendent of a large Iowa school district while simultaneously living under a final order of deportation. Yet somehow, despite years of scrutiny surrounding his immigration status, Maryland's voter registration system never flagged him .
The most damning revelation emerged when unredacted voter registration applications obtained through pressure from two watchdog groups showed that Roberts had personally affirmed under penalty of perjury that he was a United States citizen.
That detail shattered one of the most common defenses offered by election officials whenever noncitizen registrations are discovered. For months, Maryland State Board of Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis and other defenders of the system insisted that such registrations were accidental byproducts of bureaucratic processes.
The documents showed otherwise.
Roberts did not merely appear on the rolls due to an administrative error. He falsely claimed citizenship on a sworn government form. Nevertheless, he remained an active registered voter for years and continued receiving election mailings and ballots.
The broader significance of the case extends well beyond one individual.
Maryland officials routinely insist that noncitizen voting is virtually nonexistent and that existing safeguards are sufficient. Yet the Roberts case demonstrates how difficult it can be to remove even the most obvious ineligible registrant.
Here was a man who had not lived in Maryland in more than ten years. A man under a final order of deportation. A man who falsely claimed citizenship on voter registration forms. A man whose case received national media attention.
And still it took months of public pressure, investigative work, federal involvement, and ultimately a criminal conviction before Maryland election officials finally acted.
If this is how difficult it is to remove one of the most obvious examples imaginable, voters are left wondering how many less obvious cases remain hidden within the rolls.
The Maryland Freedom Caucus responded to the Roberts case by introducing the Secure the Vote Act of 2026, legislation designed to require documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration, strengthen voter identification requirements, and prevent future noncitizen registrations.
Predictably, the legislation was never allowed to advance. Like countless election-integrity measures before it, it was quietly buried in committee by legislative leadership unwilling to acknowledge the problem.
That leaves Congress with an increasingly important responsibility.
The SAVE America Act would establish nationwide citizenship verification requirements and close loopholes that currently allow noncitizens to access voter registration systems through self-attestation alone. While states like Maryland continue resisting reforms, federal action may be the only realistic path forward.
The Roberts case should serve as a warning.
Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 21:00 Close Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:25:00 +0000 China's Caribbean Listening Post? Satellite Imagery Shows Cuba Spy Base Completed
China's Caribbean Listening Post? Satellite Imagery Shows Cuba Spy Base Completed
The Center for Strategic and International Studies published a report using geospatial intelligence to show that construction of a circularly disposed
Read more.....
China's Caribbean Listening Post? Satellite Imagery Shows Cuba Spy Base Completed
The Center for Strategic and International Studies published a report using geospatial intelligence to show that construction of a circularly disposed antenna array in Cuba has been completed.
CSIS states the circularly disposed antenna array in Cuba, just 240 miles miles from Miami, Florida, could be used to monitor or intercept radio transmissions across a wide range of frequencies in the region.
The DC-based think tank added that the site may be linked to China and could be used to track sensitive U.S. military and communications activity across the Caribbean, the Gulf of America, and the southeastern U.S.
Here's a section of the report:
At an expansive SIGINT site in Bejucal, near Havana, recent satellite imagery shows construction work completed on a new large circularly disposed antenna array (CDAA).
Over the last two years, an antenna field at the northeast end of the facility has been converted from a linear antenna grid to a CDAA. Imagery published by CSIS in April 2025 captured ongoing groundwork to lay cables between the antennas and the central control facility. Construction now appears to be complete and the facility has very likely begun operations.
The array of 32 antennas (19 outer and 13 inner) is larger and likely more capable than any Cuban CDAA previously observed by CSIS. CDAAs are primarily used for high-frequency direction finding, which involves intercepting and geolocating incoming radio transmissions over a wide range of frequencies.
From Bejucal's location in Cuba's northwest, the CDAA could improve the ability of Cuban authorities—or potentially their foreign partners—to monitor sensitive U.S. activities in the Caribbean and across the southeastern seaboard. U.S. naval and air operations in the region have escalated amid the Trump administration's prioritization of the Western Hemisphere, increasing the potential value of monitoring U.S. movements in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.
CSIS cited a congressional testimony in 2005 that pointed out China's activities in the Bejucal area:
The main Chinese electronic spy bases in Cuba are located to the northeast of Santiago de Cuba in the far east of the country and in the Bejucal area in the province of Havana, according to intelligence sources. The base of antennas in Santiago de Cuba is mainly dedicated to the capture of U.S. military satellite communications, meanwhile in Bejucal the Chinese have created a complex interception system of telephone communications. To disguise these activities, the official Chinese station, Radio China International is transmitting its programs from Havana to the United States and Latin America.
China's activity in the Western Hemisphere was recently uncovered by a Select Committee’s investigation that found Beijing developed "an extensive network of dual-use space ground stations and telescopes across Latin America and uses this network to collect intelligence and boost the PLA's warfighting capacity," adding, "The investigation found at least eleven China-linked space facilities established across Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, and Brazil."
The Trump administration's campaign to purge China's influence from the Western Hemisphere has intensified this year as part of a broader U.S. effort to reorder the political map of the Americas. After the collapse of the socialist Maduro regime in Venezuela, the Trump administration is increasingly focused on Cuba , where decades of communist rule have hollowed out the island's economy and turned it into an island playground for U.S. adversaries.
Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 20:25 Close Sat, 20 Jun 2026 23:50:00 +0000 Democratic Socialist Mamdani Wants Democratic Party To Move Further Left Ahead Of 2028
Democratic Socialist Mamdani Wants Democratic Party To Move Further Left Ahead Of 2028
Democratic Socialist Mamdani Wants Democratic Party To Move Further Left Ahead Of 2028
Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times ,
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, issued one of his sharpest rebukes of the Democratic leadership Thursday night, saying that the party will lose the White House in 2028 if it does not fundamentally change course.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (R) gestures on stage with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), during a Get Out The Vote rally ahead of New York's primary election in the Brooklyn borough of New York on June 18, 2026. Ryan Murphy/AP Photo "For far too long, our party has seen its job as managing decline instead of delivering material change for working people," Mamdani told a crowd of thousands at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, where he and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) headlined a get-out-the-vote rally for three progressive congressional candidates ahead of New York's June 23 primaries.
"That old way of thinking will lose on Tuesday. And frankly, it will lose in South Carolina and New Hampshire. It will fall short of 270 electoral votes ," the Democrat said, referring to the two early primary states in the presidential nominating process. "The Democratic Party must change."
The 34-year-old is backing Darializa Avila Chevalier against Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) in New York's 13th Congressional District, former city Comptroller Brad Lander against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) in the 10th, and Assembly Member Claire Valdez in the open 7th. Early voting is underway through June 21.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has endorsed Espaillat, telling Fox 5 New York on June 15 that he and Mamdani had "agreed to strongly disagree" over the race. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul also endorsed Espaillat and campaigned alongside Goldman.
Mamdani described the primaries as the opening act of a longer national fight. "When does the race for 2028 begin?" he said. "It starts now. It starts on Tuesday."
He called on the party to offer "an affirmative agenda without apology" and to be "not just willing to stand up but also to stand for something" - drawing a contrast with what he called a politics that asks "working people to lower their expectations" and has "seen its job as explaining why we cannot instead of showing how we can."
Sanders, who introduced Mamdani at the rally, echoed the critique.
"The politics and the policies of the democratic establishment are no longer good enough," he said. "In this dangerous and unprecedented moment in American history, tinkering around the edges just won't work. "
The Vermont independent has been traveling the country rallying voters for progressive candidates ahead of the midterms, pointing to a string of recent primary wins from New Jersey to Ohio to Maine - as has ally and New York progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), appearing on CNN Friday morning and responding to a clip of Mamdani's remarks, did not push back on his critique.
"Right now, the Democratic Party needs to be far less concerned about the Democratic Party and far more concerned with what people are struggling with, " Booker said, calling for "big, bold solutions" and a coalition built around issues rather than party identity.
The DNC did not return The Epoch Times' request for comment by publication time.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a Get Out The Vote rally ahead of New York's primary election, Thursday, June 18, 2026, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. AP Photo/Ryan Murphy Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 19:50 Close Sat, 20 Jun 2026 23:15:00 +0000 "It's That Bad": Virginia Residents Battling Constant Noise From Data Center Generators
"It's That Bad": Virginia Residents Battling Constant Noise From Data Center Generators
For more than a year, residents living next to the Vantage Data Centers facility have endured what they describe as a constant, high-pi
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"It's That Bad": Virginia Residents Battling Constant Noise From Data Center Generators
For more than a year, residents living next to the Vantage Data Centers facility have endured what they describe as a constant, high-pitched whining or ringing sound coming from the site's massive backup generators - the facility's only source of electricity.
An aerial view of the Vantage data center in Sterling, Va., which abuts a residential neighborhood. (NewsNation) Unlike most data centers connected to the power grid, this facility runs entirely on its own on-site power plant. What residents were told would be temporary generator testing has become permanent operation.
"They're Just Never Turned Off"
Neighbor Hari Doue told News Nation
"We were told in the beginning that they test the generators to make sure they're working in case of an emergency. And then as the year and the months have gone on, they're just never turned off," Doue said.
Another neighbor, Greg Pirio, has reached out to attorneys over the issue . He described the impact bluntly:
"You just hear this noise, it's just like, you just want to curse, you know, it's that bad."
Some residents have taken drastic steps to cope. One placed a mattress against their window to muffle the sound. Another installed plexiglass and began monitoring decibel levels with a sound meter. Concerns center on sleep disruption, stress, and falling property values.
Vantage Data Centers officials told NewsNation they continue to monitor noise levels and do not believe the sound exceeds Loudoun County's limits - which is 55 decibels in Residential and rural areas and 60 decibels in Mixed-use residential areas. Exceptions include generators operating during emergencies, at utility request, or during testing.
Virginia: America's Data Center Capital
Virginia has the largest concentration of data centers in the United States - 287 operational and 398 prospective , according to Pew Research. Loudoun County has become ground zero for this boom, often called "Data Center Alley."
The economic upside is significant. Data centers generate almost half of Loudoun County's property tax revenues , funding schools and public services while helping keep residential tax rates lower.
However, the facilities consumed approximately 26% of Virginia's total electricity in 2023, contributing to higher energy costs for all residents.
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The situation in Sterling reflects a broader national tension. On June 18, 2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued show-cause orders requiring major grid operators to justify or update rules for connecting large energy users such as data centers.
President Trump has encouraged data center developers to build dedicated on-site power sources - the exact model used by Vantage in Sterling - to protect regular utility customers from rate hikes.
Residents near the Vantage site acknowledge the benefits of data centers, including jobs, tax revenue, and essential digital infrastructure, but strongly object to their placement directly next to homes.
"Do everything in your power to try and stop it from being built in an area that has any residential properties within 10 or 15 miles of it," said Doue.
Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 19:15 Close Sat, 20 Jun 2026 22:05:00 +0000 NY Pride Group Disbands After Drag Queen Founder - A School Board Member - Arrested On Child Sexting Charges
NY Pride Group Disbands After Drag Queen Founder - A School Board Member - Arrested On Child Sexting Charges
A New York LGBTQ+ advocacy group has canceled a scheduled pride parade and disbanded after its founder was
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NY Pride Group Disbands After Drag Queen Founder - A School Board Member - Arrested On Child Sexting Charges
A New York LGBTQ+ advocacy group has canceled a scheduled pride parade and disbanded after its founder was arrested on child-sexting charges .
Travis J. Longo, 46, of Cazenovia - a drag queen and a member of the Cazenovia School District Board of Education (of course), was arrested on Thursday and charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a child after allegedly sending sexually explicit communications to a child under the age of 12.
In a now-deleted Facebook post, the group Longo founded, Cazenova Pride Inc., announced that it is "canceling this year's Pride Festival and all associated events, and we are dissolving as an organization."
"This decision follows serious criminal charges against Travis Longo, the founder of Cazenovia Pride Fest and a longtime figure in our organization," the post continues. "Travis Longo has no further affiliation with Cazenovia Pride Inc."
Longo, who reportedly performed as a drag queen under the name "Anita Buffem," was listed as a "hostess" at the first Pride festival in Cazenovia in 2021, which was organized by Pride Cazenovia, ">The Blaze reports.
"We are deeply sorry for the pain and disappointment this causes our community," the group's statement concludes. "The years of support, love, and solidarity you have shown us have meant everything. Thank you."
Tyler Durden Sat, 06/20/2026 - 18:05 Close
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