Yesterday when discussing China’s unexpected flip-flopping on its decision to order local banks to ignore the latest US sanctions on Chinese, followed days later by a demand that they pause loans to sanctions refiners, we highlighted something remarkable: in the aftermath of the Strait of Hormuz blockade, which throttled the transit of ~10% of global oil and sent physical prices soaring to record highs (especially for Dubai crude), resulting in a windfall for European refiners thanks to soaring gasoline premiums… 

… the reaction in China was a mirror image, as already razor-thin independent refiner (teapot) margins plunged to record negative.

The reason for the margin collapse was China’s domestic fuel policy: it has long been Beijing’s policy to soften price hikes to help shield consumers and avoid social unrest; which while beneficial to end consumers is catastrophic to refiners and processors who are prohibited from passing on rising costs. In other words, Chna’s “energy security” was the dominant theme, and if it meant an entire industry has to suffer huge losses if it continues to purchase oil and process it into various product grades.

Ordered to process as much available inventory as possible, that’s what the refiners have done, and refining rates in Shandong province, China’s hub for smaller refineries known as teapots, ramped up over April to the highest level in almost two years, as processing margins cratered to record negative levels meaning refiners are losing record amounts on every barrel they process. 

“I would not be surprised if the teapots are prioritizing politics over economics with an eye to their long-term survival,” said Erica Downs, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. “They may be calculating that if they do their part to help China weather the energy crisis, then maybe they will build up some goodwill in Beijing.”

While Downs is right, and teapots are prioritizing politics, they are also certainly keeping an eye on economics to the extent they can avoid Beijing’s wrath, and predictably the logical consequence of this centrally-planned policy to force “independent” refiners (who are not really independent if they have to do whatever Beijing instructs them) to make fuel at record losses to ensure energy security, is for them to slash purchases of Iranian crude.

Sure enough, Chinese crude oil imports have plunged: according to Vortexa, China’s April imports plunged to a multi-year low of just 8.2 million barrels a day, down by about a quarter from a prewar level of around 11.7 million. The 3.5-million barrels a day swing almost matches the total consumption of Japan and is double the amount supplied by the United Arab Emirates pipeline that circumvents Hormuz. 

As Bloomberg’s Javier Blas writes overnight, “simply put, it’s huge, perhaps the second- or third-largest factor rebalancing the oil market today, behind only Saudi Arabia’s own pipeline bypassing the strait and the use of the strategic petroleum reserves of the US and Japan.”

The import drop might make sense if Chinese commercial inventories were falling sharply, or if Beijing had tapped its strategic petroleum reserves. But neither appears to be happening. Instead, commercial stockpiles have continued to increase in recent weeks, according to satellite data (of course, China is well known to manipulate all data and with the bulk of its 1.4 billion in strategic oil reserves located underground, it is impossible to trace flows definitively)

Meanwhile, as imports have collapsed, inventories at sea have piled up: Kpler reports that there are now about 16 million barrels on ships anchored in the Yellow Sea off the Chinese coast, almost 40% higher than the level prior to a US blockade of Iran’s ports in mid-April as oil that was ordered previously remains unused. 

There has been another complication: after the Iran war broke out, Beijing banned exports of refined products, effectively allowing refineries to process less crude to meet domestic demand. But the policy has now been reversed, suggesting the country sees enough fuel availability.

In any case, in recent weeks, Blas writes that amid this collapse in Chinese imports, industry executives have noticed something odd: Chinese state-owned oil companies have been reselling some of their oil cargoes to European and Asian rivals. The behavior suggests surpluses, which is “odd” to say the least during a supply shortage. Where is this excess oil coming from (for the answer, see below).

The shift has not only capped benchmark oil prices, but also helped to trigger a collapse in the premia that traders pay above them to secure physical crude. The immediate outcome has been a very beneficial one: physical barrels that in early April went for $30 above benchmark prices are now changing hands at premiums as low as $1. Talk of discounts has even started to emerge.

Underscoring this point, North Sea oil traders don’t appear as desperate for crude for immediate delivery anymore, compared to the panic buying of late March and early April

While the collapse in refining margins is a clear clue to the plunging oil imports, other questions remain: chief among them how is China importing far less crude than before without running down stocks? In the past, the country clearly bought more oil than it needed, building a huge emergency stockpile. Today, China has nearly 1.4 billion barrels in its reserves according to media reports, well above the 400 million of the US and Japan’s 260 million. As we reported in late 2025, China probably bought one million barrels a day more than it needed last year. By simply stopping beefing up the reserve, China can cut imports a lot without affecting its underlying oil needs.

The shift can explain, perhaps, a third of the import cut. But the rest? Here’s where oil traders speculate with different theories. One argument says that Chinese economic activity is weaker than previously thought, and thus oil consumption growth is also lower. What’s the catalyst for that slowdown? Perhaps the impact of the war on several of China’s clients in the region, including the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand (just don’t look for validation in Chinese economic “data” – like everything else, it took is centrally planned and Beijing would never confirm its economy is being hit due to the Iran war as that would mean reduced political leverage).

Separately, the increase of electric vehicles, improved public transportation and the option of working from home have made Chinese households better able to cope with higher oil prices.

Unlike most other nations in the region, China hasn’t announced any emergency action to rein in demand, like adopting a four-day work week for government employees or promoting carpooling.

The IEA estimates that Chinese oil demand slipped into a modest year-on-year contraction in both March and April, down by about 110,000 barrels a day to about 17 million barrels. While the drop is impressive when compared with the exuberant growth of the country’s consumption in the past, it isn’t nearly enough to explain why imports have fallen so much.

It is certainly possible that Chinese oil demand has been contracting far more sharply than currently thought, The key, Blas reckons, is the inscrutable petrochemical industry – the sector that has contributed the majority of oil consumption growth over the last five years. In petrochemicals, China is unique. On top of its traditional industry that uses oil and natural gas as feedstock, it has parallel production that relies on coal.

Since the war started in late February, coal-to-chemicals profit margins have improved markedly. The industry had typically operated with plentiful spare capacity, so there’s room for a significant shift to coal from oil as a chemical feedstock. Hard data is scarce but, anecdotally, petrochemicals plants transforming coal into plastics like polyethylene, polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride have been running hard for the last 60 days, in turn reducing consumption of traditional feedstocks such as ethane and naphtha.

So perhaps China has managed to rely far more on coal-to-chemicals than previously thought. Another possible explanation is that it’s running down hard-to-track inventories of semi-finished plastics and other chemicals, making the recent drop in oil consumption in the petrochemical industry an unsustainable one-off unless there is a global recession which collapses end-demand for Chinese plastics exports. 

And then there are the more banal explanations. Although oil traders try to estimate Chinese inventory data with the use of satellite data, it is in fact possible that observers are missing locations and stocks are, in fact, falling. About two months ago, we hinted that Chinese drain of its SPR could more than offset a full Hormuz blockade for a long time. As we said on March 18, “China can avoid any Gulf imports for months and drain its SPR instead.” 

One relevant question: what is China’s pace of SPR drain if any. Recall for the past year Beijing was adding about 500-700K in daily SPR stockpiles; total is said to be ~1.4 billion barrels. China can avoid any Gulf imports for months and drain its SPR instead.

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 18, 2026

Sure enough, Blas writes that the oil market has been full of chatter about China quietly tapping its strategic reserves, starting by using underground caverns that no one can see using satellites. Maybe. Time lags may also be playing a role; Chinese domestic oil production has been increasing, too, perhaps helping to plug any gaps.

But, as Blas concludes, “make no mistake, China is rebalancing the oil market today.” The bigger question is for tomorrow when the Strait is (eventually) unblocked: If China can reduce imports so drastically without having to take extreme measures, what does that say about the future of oil consumption there? Nothing positive for oil bulls, that’s for sure. 

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

The Department of State announced on May 7 that it would revoke the U.S. passports of parents who are significantly behind on child support payments.

The department said it would work with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to revoke passports of individuals who owe “significant child support debt,” providing a link to the new guidance.

“Anyone owing child support debt should arrange payment now with the relevant state child support enforcement agency to prevent passport revocation,” the State Department said in a post on X.

“If outside the U.S. when their passport is revoked, individuals with significant debt will be eligible ONLY for a limited validity passport for direct return to the United States.”

In a statement, the department said the enforcement is designed to put “American families first through our passport process.”

Under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996, the government can deny or revoke passports for parents owing more than $2,500 in child support. As the State Department rejects or revokes a passport, it also must send the person a notice and provide the parent with a means to contact a relevant state child support agency, according to the law.

The State Department warned on its website that, under federal regulations, people who owe more than $2,500 in child support payments would be affected by the enforcement effort. Parents who owe more than that amount cannot be issued a new U.S. passport, it added.

Notices of passport revocations to passport holders will soon be sent out via email or to the mailing address associated with their most recent passport application, it said. The State Department did not provide a timetable and did not make mention of the PRWORA in its statements on Thursday.

Those who owe child support should contact the state to pay their debt, and can “be eligible for a new U.S. passport,” the department added. The state will then have to notify HHS to confirm that the individual has paid the debt and remove the person’s name from its records before sending that information to the State Department, a process that can take two to three weeks at minimum.

But the department cautioned that a passport that has already been revoked cannot be used to travel, even if the child support debt was paid off.

A passport holder who is abroad at the time of revocation will need to visit a U.S. embassy or consulate to obtain an emergency travel document that allows them to return to the United States, according to the State Department. They will also have to contact the state where the child support is owed to pay off the debt, it added.

“You are only eligible for a limited-validity passport for direct return to the United States until HHS verifies repayment of the debt,” the website said.

The agency did not say what would happen if the debt isn’t paid or if HHS cannot verify the repayment.

Until this week, only those who applied to renew their passports were subject to the penalty. Under the new policy, HHS will inform the State Department of all past-due payments of more than $2,500, and parents in that group with passports will have their documents revoked, the department said.

The State Department advised parents with child support debt to contact their state with any questions.

“We are expanding a commonsense practice that has been proven effective at getting those who owe child support to pay their debt,” Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar told media outlets on Thursday. “Once these parents resolve their debts, they can once again enjoy the privilege of a U.S. passport.”

The State Department did not immediately respond to an Epoch Times request for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

After getting roasted over its $150 World Cup train fare, NJ Transit is backing off, lowering the roundtrip ticket to $105 for rides between Penn Station and MetLife Stadium, according to Bloomberg.

The agency had defended the original price as necessary to handle massive game-day crowds, with roughly 40,000 extra riders expected per match. That explanation didn’t land well, considering the same trip usually costs about $13.

Bloomberg writes that Mikie Sherrill pushed for a cheaper option and told the agency to look for outside funding, while also arguing that FIFA should help pay for moving its fans around.

The price cut comes as frustration grows over the broader cost of attending the tournament, from match tickets to parking and travel. And despite Gianni Infantino hyping the event as an economic bonanza, hotel bookings in host cities like New York City, Boston, Toronto, and Vancouver are looking weaker than expected.

FIFA maintains it already worked out financial responsibilities with host cities years ago and never agreed to cover transit costs. A bold stance from an organization expecting cities to roll out the red carpet — and apparently pick up the tab for it too.

This year’s tournament will be the biggest World Cup yet, with 48 national teams playing 104 matches across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico — the first time the event has returned to North America since the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

MetLife Stadium will host several marquee matches, including the final, putting the New York/New Jersey region squarely in the global spotlight. Which is exciting — assuming fans can actually afford to get there once they’ve paid for tickets, hotels, and a small fortune in stadium beer.

Authored by Jackson Richman via The Epoch Times,

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent landmark ruling on redistricting has prompted lawmakers in multiple states to reconsider their electoral maps ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The decision, issued on April 29, focused on a congressional map that Louisiana drew after a lower court stated that a prior map violated the Voting Rights Act. That law prohibits race-based discrimination in election practices. The lower court stated that Louisiana’s initial map discriminated against black people by not including an additional majority-black district.

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais stated that the lower court decision, which resulted in Louisiana drawing a new map, erred. A majority of the justices said race could not be a primary consideration when states draw maps for elections.

The ruling has caused states, particularly in the South, to redraw their congressional maps ahead of the midterms.

Since Texas redrew its House districts to favor Republicans last year, eight states have adopted new congressional maps. Republicans believe the changes could net them as many as 13 seats, while Democrats estimate they could gain up to 10. Still, some of the newly drawn districts are expected to be competitive in November, potentially limiting the gains either party hopes to achieve.

Here is the latest on the redistricting battles nationwide.

Louisiana

After the Supreme Court decision, Louisiana politicians said their current map was unconstitutional and therefore shouldn’t be used in upcoming elections. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry quickly suspended the state’s primary for U.S. House elections, set for May 16.

“Yesterday’s historic Supreme Court victory for Louisiana has an immediate consequence for the state,” Landry and state Attorney General Liz Murrill said in an April 30 statement posted on social media.

Louisiana requested a quicker-than-usual judgment from the Supreme Court, which usually issues a formal judgment after 32 days of releasing its opinion. The state worried that a delay could complicate redrawing a new map before the midterms. After Landry halted the primary election, a group of individual voters and activist groups filed suit to block that decision. Litigation in that case is ongoing.

Alabama

After the Supreme Court’s decision, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the ruling supported his own state’s redistricting efforts.

A federal court had required Alabama, like Louisiana, to include an additional majority-minority district. That ruling conflicted with what the Supreme Court stated in its recent decision, Marshall argued.

He also asked the Supreme Court to intervene, telling it that a quick decision was necessary.

“Expedited consideration is necessary to afford Alabama the same opportunity as other States to use a lawfully enacted congressional map free of an injunction that cannot be reconciled with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act ‘as properly construed,’” he wrote, citing the Callais decision.

Alabama’s legislature has already attempted to implement a new map, passing one on May 6.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called a special legislative session following the Supreme Court’s decision.

“[The] Supreme Court issued a positive decision in the Louisiana v. Callais case, which I said was encouraging for our own pending litigation,” Ivy said.

The Republican-led Alabama House on May 6 passed legislation authorizing special congressional primaries as Republicans pursue the possibility of implementing a new congressional map before the November elections. The bill now heads to the state Senate.

Alabama is seeking to overturn a federal court order that created a second congressional district with a near-majority black population. That court-drawn map led to the 2024 election of Rep. Shomari Figures (D-Ala.), a black Democrat. Republicans instead want to reinstate the 2023 map approved by state lawmakers that they believe would give the GOP a chance to win back Figures’s south Alabama district.

The legislation passed the House along party lines after four hours of heated debate.

The measure depends on either the U.S. Supreme Court or a lower federal court lifting the existing injunction blocking Alabama’s preferred map.

Under current law, Alabama’s congressional primaries are set for May 19. If courts side with the state, the legislation would invalidate those results for congressional races and require the governor to schedule new primaries using revised district boundaries.

Absentee voting is already underway. A new congressional map would be used starting this year.

But Alabama remains under a court order prohibiting the use of new congressional maps until after the 2030 census.

Nonetheless, Ivey called the special session so that Alabama can act immediately if it receives a favorable ruling. If the state gets that, it would revert to the maps drawn by the legislature for congressional districts in 2023 and state senate districts in 2021.

Alabama officials believe that the state could receive a favorable ruling because the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in the Louisiana case significantly narrowed how courts can use the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to require majority-black districts.

Tennessee

A week after the Supreme Court decision, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed into law a new map ahead of the 2026 midterms. This came on the same day that the GOP-controlled state legislature passed the new lines.

Lee said the goal was to ensure that the districts were “fair, legal, and defensible” following the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Louisiana case.

He didn’t specifically cite the Supreme Court’s ruling, but the new session came after pressure from President Donald Trump and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who urged Tennessee Republicans to redraw the map in a way that could eliminate the state’s lone black-majority congressional seat in Memphis.

The new map would be for the 2026 election.

The candidate qualifying period in Tennessee ended in March, and the primary election is scheduled for Aug. 6.

It would divide Shelby County, home to Memphis, into three districts instead of the current two. This would consist of redrawing the state’s Ninth Congressional District, the lone Democratic district in the state, and making it lean Republican.

The member of Congress who is in that seat, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), said he will file a lawsuit in response to the new map.

Mississippi

Like Louisiana and Alabama, Mississippi also faced a court ruling accusing it of diluting the voting strength of black residents.

State lawmakers had delayed action pending the Supreme Court’s decision in Callais. Just before that decision, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves called for a legislative session.

He indicated that he was hopeful the Supreme Court would give his state more flexibility.

“It is my sincere hope that, in deciding Callais, the U.S. Supreme Court will reaffirm the animating principle that all Americans are created equal and that when the government classifies its citizens on the basis of race, even as a perceived remedy to right a wrong, it engages in the offensive and demeaning assumption that Americans of a particular race, because of their race, think alike and share the same interests and preferences—a concept that is odious to a free people,” he said on social media.

In his order last month, Reeves scheduled the special session for 21 days after the day of the Supreme Court’s decision.

South Carolina

South Carolina is also looking to change its congressional map following the Supreme Court decision.

The state House on May 6 approved a resolution allowing lawmakers to return after the regular session ends to redraw congressional districts, a move that could eliminate the state’s lone Democratic-held seat. The measure now heads to the Senate, where it requires a two-thirds majority to pass.

Following the vote, Republican House leaders said they intend to unveil a new congressional map on May 7 and convene committee meetings on May 8. During floor debate, however, Republicans didn’t directly answer Democrats’ questions about why they were prepared to halt the June 9 U.S. House primaries after candidate filing had already closed, as well as how much postponing and rescheduling the elections could cost taxpayers.

An apparent large oil spill spanning dozens of square miles of sea has been spotted off of Iran’s main oil hub of Kharg Island, according to open source satellite imagery and reporting in both the NY Times and Reuters on Friday.

The reports cite images from Copernicus’s Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, and Sentinel-3 satellites taken from monitoring May 6 through 8 which show a huge grey-and-white slick extending out to the west of Kharg Island.

Image source: Soar

“The slick appears visually consistent with oil,” said Leon Moreland, a researcher at the Conflict and Environment Observatory, to Reuters. He believes it to be covering an area of approximately 45 square km (or nearly 18 sq miles).

While it’s unclear what may have caused it, or the extent of possible damage to Kharg Island infrastructure or possibly docked tankers, the island has been attacked by US aerial forces in the recent post.

One regional source provides the following commentary:

It could be the result of a leak. Other claims have suggested oil was pumped into the sea because storage space had run out due to the blockade. In newer images, the oil slick appeared to be moving south.

Social media users expressed concern over what appeared to be an oil spill in the satellite images.

“This must be dealt with quickly before the oil reaches the coasts of other Gulf states,” a Saudi influencer wrote on X, where he has more than 750,000 followers.

And separately a regional monitor and expert explains the following:

Synthetic aperture radar imagery shows a large surface slick emanating from the waters around Kharg Island, Iran’s primary crude oil export terminal responsible for roughly 90% of the country’s oil exports.

At the time of detection, multiple tankers were simultaneously loading at the Kharg Island terminal. It is not yet clear whether the spill originated from a loading operation, a vessel, subsea infrastructure, or the terminal itself.

Satellite monitoring spotted the apparent spillage…

🚨Satellites have detected a massive oil spill spreading across a vast area of the Persian Gulf around Iran’s Kharg Island.

Synthetic aperture radar imagery shows a large surface slick emanating from the waters around Kharg Island, Iran’s primary crude oil export terminal… pic.twitter.com/OcxVKCAYkQ

— Jack Prandelli (@jackprandelli) May 7, 2026

Earlier on Friday Iran’s Fars reported sporadic clashes between Iranian Armed Forces and US vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Amid the fog of war, nothing in the way of details emerged. By evening these clashes appeared to have ceased. 

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has condemned US “aggression and adventurism” but has also confirmed that Tehran is still reviewing the US proposal and is still going to respond soon.

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

The California Death Trip

“History records no pity for parties that choose purity over competence, vengeance over vision, pathology over pragmatism. The long night is not coming. It is here. . . . ”

– LHGrey on X

The Pacific Palisades fire ignited on January 7, 2025, in the very last days of the “Joe Biden” fake presidency.

6,837 total buildings destroyed plus about 1,000 damaged.

The Altadena fire across town in Eaton Canyon was arguably worse: 9,418 buildings destroyed.

A Year After the LA Fires

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was in Ghana at the time to attend the inauguration of president John Dramani Mahama, part of a small U.S. presidential delegation sent by the “Biden” administration.

Deputy Mayor for Public Safety, Brian Williams, overseer of the Police and Fire Departments, was on administrative leave at the time due to an alleged bomb threat against City Hall that he reportedly made in September / October 2024. The FBI raided his house that December, and in 2025 he copped a plea deal (guilty) to making threats involving fire and explosives. So, he was out of action during the fires.

There you have the rectified essence of how the Democratic Party operates in America’s biggest state.

Is it not astonishing that Karen Bass is running for reelection? How could she possibly be forgiven?

A large number of people employed in the movie business got burned out of their homes in the fires, and then city and state regulatory nonsense prevented them from rebuilding — on top of insurance company hocus-pocus that left families financially wrecked.

Is it a surprise that the city’s flagship industry is dying now (film production down 32-percent on a five-year average)?

What is LA without Hollywood?

And yet the show-biz celebs are still coming out to pimp for Democratic Party politicians. This is the kind of thing that forces you to conclude that an epic madness burns as hotly through the minds of Californians as the fires that ripped through the canyons in 2025. I know from personal experience as a college theater major that actors can be exceptionally stupid, but that can’t wholly account for what we’re seeing.

Wednesday’s primary debates had these villains on florid display. Because LA’s ranked-choice mayoral primary race styles itself “non-partisan,” candidate Spencer Pratt (a registered Republican) was on-hand for the debate. When the subject of LA’s cataclysmic homelessness came up, drug addicts living (if you can call it that) in wretched, filthy encampments all over the public space of the city, Mayor Bass bragged that she’d significantly reduced the problem, which is obviously and mendaciously untrue. LA City Council member Nithya Raman, who labels herself “progressive,” bragged on putting the homeless into shelters (i.e., motel rooms at $100-K per person per year.)

Spencer Pratt attempted to inject a little reality into the discussion about putting the homeless into homes: “No matter how many beds you give these people, they are on super meth, they are on fentanyl. The DEA [Drug Enforcement Agency] statistic says 93-percent of this is a drug addiction problem. These people do not want a bed — they want fentanyl or super meth.”

Pratt is currently running third in the polls. In ranked-choice voting, the top two winners in the primary will face off in the November election. Currently Bass is polling in the lead and Nithya Raman is running second. If the numbers stay that way, the winner in November could finish Los Angeles off. Blade Runner, here we come.

But there’s still a chance that Spencer Pratt might place well in the June 2 primary just as Golden Tempo shot from dead last to win the Kentucky Derby last week.

The seductions of the Marxist race hustle have worn a little thin, even for Angelenos. Karen Bass looks increasingly ridiculous grinning about her abject failures, which Mr. Pratt lays out relentlessly in plain talk. His reality-testing seems to be getting some minds right, gaining real traction. Nithya Raman has the charisma of a mung bean.

The gubernatorial debate was equally edifying, especially the spectacle of Democratic Candidates Katie Porter’s and billionaire Tom Steyer’s rousing lack of self-awareness. Ms. Porter, renowned for dumping a pot of steaming mashed potatoes over her ex-husband’s head, and for her crotchety way with the (friendly) news media and her own staff, made the astounding statement that “the public servants we have are focused on doing their job, which is not cooperating with the federal immigration authorities.” That’s their job? Hmmmm. Mr. Steyer went further and said he would arrest ICE agents going about their business. You think . . .? (I would think that a Governor Steyer would find himself arrested by the feds for attempting such a stunt.)

The governor’s race is also a rank-choice contest. So, Republican Steve Hilton was on-hand to break the reality-optional spell that shrouded the stage like a poisonous miasma. After several Democrats made a show of deploring the grotesque homeless druggie encampments from Nob Hill to MacArthur Park, Mr. Hilton said “[They] talk as if we’re in some parallel universe where Democrats haven’t been running the state for the last sixteen years.” He shares the lead in the polls in the large field at 18-percent with Xavier Becerra, who was “Joe Biden’s” Secretary of Health and Human Services, meaning, he presided over the vaxx mandates and lockdowns of the Covid operation.

California is ground zero for the death dance of the Democratic Party. Symptoms are popping up all over the country, of course. Just this week, the FBI raided the headquarters of Virginia State Senator pro tempore L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) — and also raided the marijuana shop she co-owns next door to her HQ. The SCOTUS decision on Congressional redistricting has thrown many states’ Democratic Party outposts into a fugue of terror as they stand to lose as many as a dozen seats in Congress. DOJ prosecutions are underway against prominent Democrats in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. Many of their heroes could go to prison. Panic has set in. The Democratic Party as we know it these days is not long for this world.

Toyota expects a sharp decline in profit as rising material and shipping costs tied to the Iran conflict pressure its business, according to Bloomberg. 

The automaker projected operating income of ¥3 trillion for the fiscal year ending March 2027, well below both analyst expectations of ¥4.6 trillion and last year’s ¥3.8 trillion.

The company said supply chain disruptions are driving up costs for aluminum, resins, and other materials, while logistics issues remain unpredictable. Toyota estimates the regional conflict could reduce earnings by about ¥670 billion.

After the forecast was released, shares dropped as much as 3.5%. Analysts noted Toyota may be giving conservative guidance, but future performance will depend heavily on how long the conflict continues.

Julie Boote, an analyst at London-based research firm Pelham Smithers Associates Ltd told Bloomberg: “Toyota did not only miss consensus estimates, but also its own forecast, as auto unit sales came in much weaker than predicted by the automaker. It is still likely that Toyota is once again lowballing its guidance, with earnings upgrades possible during the fiscal year; much depends also on the development of the Iran war.”

Toyota expects vehicle sales to dip slightly this year, though hybrid sales are projected to surpass 5 million units for the first time. The company is also focusing more on after-sales services, which it sees as a major future profit driver.

Despite record annual revenue of ¥50.7 trillion, quarterly operating profit fell 49% due to tariffs and higher shipping expenses.

Meanwhile, Honda just posted an operating loss of 400 billion yen — its first in the company’s history, according to Nikkei. The loss was primarily driven by problems tied to its electric vehicle business and marks the company’s first operating loss since going public in 1957.

This is a major decline from the 1.2 trillion yen operating profit it reported the previous fiscal year. It would also be the second-largest operating loss ever reported by a Japanese automaker, behind Toyota Motor Corporation’s 461 billion yen loss during the 2009 global financial crisis, although accounting differences make direct comparisons imperfect, Nikkei writes.

In March, Honda said it expected an operating loss between 270 billion and 570 billion yen and announced it was canceling three planned EV launches in North America.

The company also projected up to 2.5 trillion yen in EV-related costs over fiscal years 2025–2027, including asset impairment charges and supplier compensation.

Despite these losses, Honda plans to return to operating profitability in the current fiscal year, supported by strong motorcycle sales in Asia, a weaker yen, and a broader turnaround strategy for its North American and Chinese businesses.

Nissan had also trimmed production due to the Iran war earlier in the year. 

President Trump announced Friday that the leaders of Russia and Ukraine have agreed to his request for a three-day ceasefire and a major prisoner swap. He hailed in a Truth Social post that this could be the “beginning of the end” of the long war between them.

He specified that the ceasefire would run Saturday through Monday – with Saturday being Victory Day celebrations in Russia. The Kremlin has been increasingly concerned that the major national holiday which commemorates its victory over Nazi Germany 81 years ago in World War II could be marred by drone attacks from Ukraine. There’s no doubt that President Putin is welcoming of such a ceasefire declaration, and backing by Washington.

“I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump wrote. “The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day but, likewise, in Ukraine, because they were also a big part and factor of World War II.”

This is to include a suspension of all kinetic activity and the exchange of 1,000 prisoners by each country, the US president also said. While direct talks between the warring countries have not been happening, these kinds of prisoner exchanges have actually been somewhat of a constant throughout the over 4-year long war.

The timing is interesting, given that the White House is clearly consumed with the Iran war, the Hormuz Strait crisis, and the expanding economic fallout globally and at home. 

Moscow has meanwhile been threatening to attack Kiev with an unprecedented bombing campaign should V-Day events be disrupted by drone fire out of Ukraine this weekend.

Putin it seems is seeking the opportunity to soften Washington’s stance toward Moscow’s perspective of the Ukraine war. Also, at the moment Trump needs a diplomatic ‘win’ that he can tout to the world, given the Iran situation is sliding into a bit of a quagmire which could have dire consequences for Republicans going into the midterms.

Despite that Iran remains a key regional ally of Russia’s, it remains that Moscow has benefited from both the easing of sanctions on its oil exports at sea, and rising global oil prices – both the result of the Iran war.

Previously, Kremlin leaders have offered a deal where Iran could keep its enriched uranium but hold it on Russian territory, to ensure the continuation of its nuclear energy. This, Moscow has reasoned, could serve as a basis for a grand deal with the US.

Authored by Eric Utter via AmericanThinker.com,

Minnesota Senate Democrats recently voted – unaminously – against removing deceased persons from the state’s voter rolls.

This tracks with the fact that almost 100% of dead people vote for Democrats, making them Democrats’ most loyal voting bloc, even surpassing that of serial killers.

(This may explain why, historically, Democrat gerrymandering seems designed to encompass as many cemeteries as possible. O.K., that is just an unfounded assertion, but it seems likely, does it not?)

The dead — and serial killers — are groups that vote heavily for Democrats? Talk about a symbiotic relationship! The latter provide the former! Genius! Kismet!

This after they also voted — unanimously — against an oversight committee effort to compel Rep. Ilhan Omar to testify after she missed a deadline to provide documents to the committee investigating the Somali fraud rampant in the North Star State.

So the multi-millionaire or poverty-stricken representative (take your pick) from Somalia escapes a subpoena, at least for now.

It is obvious that Democrats in Minnesota are as wedded to fraud as Ilhan once was to her brother. And for the same reason: they will do whatever it takes to attain and retain power, so help them Allah.

They share the same goals as well, at least for now: to fleece law-abiding taxpayers out of as much money as possible, so as to line their own pockets — and the pockets of those who help them attain and retain power.

In a sane country, at a sane moment in time, this would be considered an unethical, unacceptable, unconstitutional, illegal, and treasonous misuse of power, one that spits in the face of a representative democracy. Here today? Meh. Not good, but let’s not fly off the handle like our founders did. Tolerance and empathy, you see.

Democrats want as many illegals in the country as possible, because they vote for Democrats in droves. Why wouldn’t it be the same for dead folks? The more dead people, the more votes Democrats get. And, if the dead are erstwhile denizens of red states and rural areas, so much the better. Presto chango, a Republican has been converted into a Democrat! Remarkable!

This could explain Democrats’ love of abortion, medical assistance in dying, and violent criminals.

Our forefathers would have done whatever it took to counter this orgy of criminality.

Past mafia godfathers would be proud of it.

Today? Democrats like Tim Walz, Gavin Newsom, and J.B. Pritzker might accurately be called “fraudfathers.”

It looks like Citadel isn’t the only Wall Street giant looking for the exits as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) continues his commie Robinhood thing on the city’s richest.

Fox Business Network’s Charles Gasparino reported Wednesday that the Manhattan-headquartered private equity giant Apollo is preparing to establish what insiders describe as a “second headquarters” in either Florida or Texas. A formal announcement on the location is expected within weeks.

The move would build on Apollo’s earlier internal memo to employees signaling plans for significant future growth outside its longtime New York base, amid a broader migration of financial firms toward business-friendly states in the South.

Gasparino reports:

The new outpost could eventually become home to as many as 1,000 employees over time – in line with Apollo’s current headcount in New York, the sources said. The buyout firm currently employs more than 6,000 worldwide.

Apollo paid a whopping $1.276 billion in income taxes in 2025, up from $1.062 billion the year before. While filings don’t break down how much of that went to the Big Apple, the city stands to lose a hefty revenue stream as the firm looks to expand elsewhere.

Apollo – headed by billionaire CEO Marc Rowan – is currently scouting out space in Miami and in Palm Beach, where Apollo already has a small presence, according to the sources. In Texas, office space in Austin is also under consideration, the insiders said.

News of Apollo’s plans come after billionaire Citadel CEO Ken Griffin said Mamdani’s push for higher taxes on second homes has reinforced his firm’s commitment to Miami – and even led the firm to scale up its planned headquarters there.

During a Tuesday interview at the Milken Institute Global Conference, Griffin confirmed that Citadel decided to enlarge its Miami office project after Mamdani publicly referenced his $238 million Central Park South penthouse while promoting a new pied-à-terre tax proposal.

“We went to Miami and revised our building plan to make it a bigger office building,” the high-profile investor said. “What the mayor of New York has made clear to my partners, and principally my New York partners, is that we need to double down on our bet in Miami.”

Griffin also said he watched Mamdani’s video three times, branding it “creepy and weird.”

The Citadel boss added that the situation brought back memories of his departure from Chicago, where he previously criticized local leadership before moving Citadel and Citadel Securities to Florida.

“Looking at what Mamdani did to me and more broadly is doing to the city of New York is triggering the trauma I went through in Chicago,” he explained.

Griffin’s announcement is part of “a troubling pattern taking shape” in the Big Apple, according to Steve Fulop, who leads the pro-business lobby organization. Partnership for New York City.

“The solution is that the administration needs to have a real pro-business agenda that has support of the broader business corporate community,” Fulop told Gasparino. “We haven’t seen this yet and there is a sense of urgency to getting this going. It is a competitive landscape and without a strategy companies will look to more friendly places.”