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Edition 1,431
At the state dinner Thursday night at the White House, President Trump toasted his guest:
“President Xi and I both understand we represent different systems, but the ties between our people endure, and we’ve never gotten along better,” adding that “together, we can continue to build a relationship that promotes prosperity and security for future generations.”
The president then invited his guests to be the first to see the progress on the ballroom, which he claimed was a year from being finished.
Xi noted in his own toast that “President Trump has pledged to make America great again” and that “China is committed to achieving great national rejuvenation.”
“These two goals are both ambitious and can surely be mutually reinforcing,” Xi said.
Xi added: “China and the United States must act as responsible major countries, meet the expectations of our peoples, keep pace with the trend of our times, and explore a new approach for major countries to get along with each other.”
Earlier, in the Oval Office, Xi stressed Beijing’s position on Taiwan, urging Trump to “carefully” consider the U.S.’ position and oppose Taiwan independence, according to Chinese state media.
Xi later said that the two countries, which have been locked in a long-running trade war, had achieved a “new joint arrangement” on trade after a new round of negotiation.
He added Chinese and American interests are “deeply intertwined” and that the “competition should be a healthy one and should be kept within bounds.”
He also reiterated his warning that the U.S. and China must avoid the “Thucydides trap,” referring to the idea that when a rising power threatens to displace an established one, the result is often war. Xi offered a similar warning when Trump visited Beijing in May.
“It should be a race of catching up with one another, not a wrestle in which one either wins or loses,” Xi added.
China has resisted the Trump administration’s urgings – and economic threats – to use its considerable leverage to prod Iran to agree to U.S. terms to end the nearly seven-month war. Xi wants to see Trump permanently halt arms sales to Taiwan and loosen export restrictions on cutting-edge advanced chips. The two sides on Wednesday agreed to extend by two months a one-year trade truce that was set to expire Nov. 10 as they work to find a more durable agreement.
But China has made it clear it views Taiwan as the most sensitive issue in the U.S.-China relationship. Beijing considers Taiwan to be Chinese territory and vows to annex the island by force if necessary. The United States is obligated by law to provide Taiwan with sufficient hardware to deter any armed attack from the mainland. The U.S. has said it opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side.
Editorial / Wall Street Journal
‘Mr. Xi on Thursday urged the U.S. to ‘adhere to the correct position of opposing Taiwan independence,’ according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency. The current and longstanding U.S. position is that it ‘does not support Taiwan independence,’ and that it expects relations between Beijing and Taipei to be resolved peacefully.
“This is a semantic distinction with a big difference, which is why Mr. Xi wants Mr. Trump to change. China would use formal U.S. opposition to independence to raise doubts on the democratic island about American support. China would use it to justify further harassment of the island as its rowdy Legislature debates the island’s future.”
President Trump’s shift to a friendlier stance on China mirrors a startling change in public opinion.
Surveys from leading pollsters, including two released this week, show that China’s image in the United States has improved markedly in recent years.
“There really is this warming toward China, even if on balance views still remain fairly negative,” said Laura Silver, an associate director at the Pew Research Center, which published survey data on Wednesday showing that 54 percent of Americans now have a “cold” view of China, compared with 68 percent in 2021.
The surveys do not pinpoint the reasons for the shift, which appears to be more pronounced among younger Americans.
More than a few Americans are a bit naïve, though not former Rep. Mike Gallagher, who when he was in Congress, I hoped would run for president one day, or at least be the perfect running mate for the Republicans.
But he left the House for the private sector and is head of defense at Palantir Technologies and a distinguished fellow at the Hudson Institute.
Gallagher concluded a Wall Street Journal op-ed from Thursday evening on artificial intelligence, and Taiwan, thusly:
“(We) should remain skeptical of any utopian scheme to pace the frontier hand-in-hand with the Chinese, as Sen. Bernie Sanders has suggested. The idea that we can achieve a modus vivendi with the Communist Party on AI is belied by decades of experience. Beijing has systematically violated its World Trade Organization agreements, abrogated a 2015 cyber agreement, and let several years of U.S.-supported gain-of-function research spiral into a global pandemic. It isn’t pacing its AI frontier, it is stealing America’s frontier capabilities through covert industrial distillation and the illegal use of advanced chips.
“The biggest threat to humanity isn’t rogue AI; it is AI controlled by China, which would use this transformative technology to take Taiwan and displace America as the world’s dominant superpower.”
President Trump on Truth Social this morning:
“Very productive meeting with President Xi for both the U.S.A. and China. Tremendous things will be happening. Like almost everyone else, he seemed to like calling the poorly and inaccurately named Artificial Intelligence to a far more accurate and important name, SUPER INTELLIGENCE. That would be ‘SUPER!’ Everyone last night agreed, also. President DJT.”
This was what mattered to President Trump. Truly pathetic.
But…in the end, it was probably best for now little, if anything, really happened these last 48 hours. Now, we need to get arms to Taiwan, we need to keep our high-end chips out of China’s hands, as much as possible, but it’s important not to rock the boat on trade because we need China’s rare earth minerals and on that front, they have us over a barrel.
More next week, as further details from the talks emerge and I’ll have a chance to catch up on what Chinese media is saying.
—
Tale of the Tape
Oil / West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
Friday, Feb. 27…$67.30
Friday, Sept. 25…$92.20
Nationwide averages at the Gas Pump [Source: AAA]
Friday, Feb. 27…regular $2.98; diesel $3.75
Friday, Sept. 25…regular $4.49; diesel $6.50 [hit record earlier in the week]
As it went down day-by-day in the Iran War….
Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked “sensitive” sites in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Saturday with missiles and drones, hours after flames and a large plume of smoke were seen near the city’s main airport.
Saudi Arabia had sent alerts overnight warning of potential danger around Riyadh, amid an escalation in attacks by the Houthis in the kingdom.
The Houthis did not specify what they had targeted in Riyadh, but said they had attacked an Aramco facility in the Red Sea city of Yanbu, a key Saudi oil export hub.
The Houthis said the operation came as a response to an attack in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
There was no immediate comment from the Saudi government’s media office, nor was there any immediate Saudi confirmation of the Houthis claims of attacks.
Saudi civil defense sent the alerts by phone overnight for potential danger of aerial attacks in Riyadh and the city of Al-Kharj east of the capital, before issuing an all-clear on Saturday morning.
The Iran-aligned group, which seized Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast in a lightning advance this month, says the Saudi Air Force has conducted hundreds of airstrikes against it in recent days.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told Al Jazeera in an interview aired on Saturday that Tehran wanted the war between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis to end, adding that he believed Yemenis also wanted a settlement with Saudi Arabia.
Rezaei also said Iran had conveyed its conditions to mediators for e-engaging in stalled negotiations with the United States, including “ending the war on all fronts.”
Consultations were continuing with Qatari and Pakistani mediators and Tehran was awaiting a response from President Trump, Rezaei said.
Sunday, the United States and Iran exchanged new threats, with President Trump warning Iran would fail economically or face its leadership being wiped out if it didn’t make a deal, and the Iranian military saying it would retaliate harshly to any fresh attack by targeting U.S. bases and interests and that Washington’s regional allies would be considered parties to the conflict.
In a call with Fox News on Sunday, Trump laid out three possible paths for Iran: they make a deal with the U.S. or Trump will choose between “letting them rot economically,” or wiping Iran out entirely.
“My question is, if and when do I blow the entire nation up?” Trump said. “They better behave.”
However, Iranian President Pezeshkian was expected in New York this week for the UN General Assembly, and Trump said he would be open to meeting him.
Tuesday morning, President Trump addressed the UNGA and said he had a decision to make on Iran: to strike a deal with Tehran or “annihilate the Islamic Republic.” His threat, amid a defense of the war, came as allies have begun to openly question whether the United States remains a credible partner.
Trump also celebrated his military operation in Venezuela this year but saved his strongest words for Iran, declaring that its reign as “the bully of the Middle East” was over.
“I have a big decision to make,” he said. “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world. Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”
He added: “Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?”
It was rather jarring, given the setting.
[Speaking of Venezuela, Trump said, “To the victor belong the spoils,” referring to its oil reserves…also not quite the language of the United Nations.]
Early Tuesday afternoon, Trump then said the U.S. and Iran held three hours of talks on the sidelines, an Iranian delegation meeting with Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.
Kushner and Witkoff have been useless in prior negotiations, both in the Iran war as well as Russia-Ukraine, with Witkoff recently gushing over Putin in the Kremlin and how “memorable” it was for him just a few weeks ago.
Wednesday, it was Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s turn at the General Assembly, and he delivered a defiant speech, brandishing pictures of people killed by American and Israeli airstrikes.
Pezeshkian vowed that Iran could “not be made to surrender” and said it would never accept limits on its nuclear program, which he claimed was for peaceful purposes. He accused the United States and Israel of going “against international law” by targeting civilian infrastructure in its strikes on Iran.
“Yes, they did hit us,” he said, “but we did not bend the knee.”
Pezeshkian did say Iran is ready to resume discussions but won’t respond to threats. And he said his country will not allow freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz while sanctions and a U.S. blockade remain in place, underscoring the difficulty in reaching a peace deal despite efforts to revive talks.
It was the first time in the world body’s 81-year history that the president of a country that is actively at war with the United States has set foot in New York to address the Assembly. Just seven months ago, Pezeshkian was running his country from an underground bunker, trying to stay alive as U.S. and Israeli airstrikes rained down.
Now, he was being protected by the Secret Service, as per protocol.
Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, the top military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, told Iranian state television that the supreme leader had “right now decided to give the government an open hand to negotiate.”
Thursday, the Houthis fired more missiles at Saudi cities including Yanbu and Taif. Yanbu is a key oil export terminal on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.
Only 10 commodity vessels transited the Strait on Wednesday, below the 10-day moving average of 17.
—The U.S. military’s price tag for the war has grown to $43.6 billion as of Sept. 3, according to a new estimate provided last week to lawmakers.
The figure from U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, offers the most up-to-date cost for the conflict.
The new breakdown also showed the continued use of expensive munitions by American forces. Weapons costs jumped by more than $6 billion in just over a month, from $21.7 billion listed in a Congressional Budget Office report a week earlier to $28.1 billion in U.S. Central Command’s estimate.
—The Trump administration has proposed investing $5 billion in a new fund that would help Middle East countries rebuild energy infrastructure battered in the Iran war and reduce their reliance on the Strait of Hormuz to transport oil and gas, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The move is a tacit acknowledgement that the seven-month conflict has roiled the global energy market and destroyed regional pipelines and refineries that will be costly to rebuild.
Under the plan, the U.S. would seek a matching contribution from eight Middle Eastern partners – Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq and Jordan – with the goal of generating a $10 billion investment fund. The investment would be called the Partnership for Allied Trust and Construction, or Pact.
Some Middle East officials said the initiative appeared to be Washington’s attempt to cast the Strait of Hormuz as a less consequential energy route and show the U.S. and its allies as united in confronting Iran. They added that creating a fund to rebuild destroyed energy sites without a peace deal with Tehran would be premature, as the regime could target fresh infrastructure with drones and missiles.
But not everyone will support alternate routes.
—On a broader topic related to the war….
The U.S. has warned allies to expect delays of as much as five years in key weapons deliveries as it rebuilds its own depleted munitions stocks.
Multiple European nations are expecting deliveries of key missiles and air defense capabilities to be pushed back as a result of the U.S. military exhausting its own arsenal in the Iran war, officials said.
Germany has asked the U.S. to speed up delivery of the long-range Tomahawk cruise missile and the ground-based Typhon launcher, but depleted U.S. stocks of the powerful weapon means its manufacturer, RTX Corp.’s Raytheon, is unlikely to fulfill the order in the next five years.
Two other officials said some Eastern European nations also reliant on U.S. weapons systems have experienced delays since soon after the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28.
The Pentagon’s decision to prioritize its own stockpiles is also straining Ukraine’s push for the U.S. to send it more Patriot air defense interceptors ahead of what is expected to be a difficult winter for the war-torn nation.
The U.S. is estimated to have used more than half of its most advanced Patriot missile variants, a third of its Tomahawk missiles and almost half of its precision strike missiles and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, interceptors in Iran. The CBO said the U.S. had probably used as much as two-thirds of its inventory of missile defense interceptors since June 2025.
The military fired so many munitions at Iranian targets during the first few months of the war that it “has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottle necks for munitions resupply,” Pentagon officials acknowledged to its inspector general.
Defense firms are ramping up production, with Lockheed Martin Corp. working to increase annual capacity from around 600 to 2,000 of the most advanced PAC-3 MSE, or Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement. [Bloomberg]
—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel delivered a fiery speech to the UN General Assembly on Thursday as protesters rallied against him in the streets of New York and many diplomats in the hall walked out, as they did last year.
Netanyahu cast his war in Gaza and the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran as a “battle against barbarians” and said he had “no greater partner than President Trump.” He struck a tone of intense defiance, vowing that Israel would continue fighting Hamas and Iran “because we have no other choice.”
Netanyahu batted away accusations that Israel was prosecuting a “genocidal war that has created an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said hours earlier, while avoiding the topic of Gaza’s destruction. Rather than committing a genocide, he said, Israel had “prevented a genocide” against its own people by Hamas. He called claims of genocide against Israel “the greatest lie of the century.”
Netanyahu is facing a tough election at home, and the address was largely directed at the audience there and not at the international community, from which Israel is more isolated than ever.
—
Wall Street and the Economy
—China…U.S. and Chinese officials offered upbeat assessments of their talks on artificial intelligence, trade and investment, signaling a mutual desire to steady ties ahead of this week’s summit between Trump and Xi.
China’s top trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, said the talks were held in a “good atmosphere” as he left JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s headquarters in New York on Sunday, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent lauded “very successful” discussions. The Chinese official Xinhua News Agency called the exchange “candid, in-depth and constructive.”
The talks didn’t lead to an agreement to extend the countries’ trade truce, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the talks. An announcement of new U.S. tariffs over allegations of trading partners’ excess manufacturing capacity has been delayed until after the meeting.
Stocks rose after the talks on the seeming good vibes. Wheat and corn futures rose as traders anticipate more Chinese purchases of American agricultural products.
China bought more U.S. soybeans late last week, according to traders with knowledge of the deals, with state-owned firms booking at least four cargoes. Earlier this month, China passed the halfway mark of a pledge to purchase at least 25 million tons of U.S. soybeans annually through 2028, part of a broader trade truce struck during a summit in South Korea last October.
China has never come close to meeting its commitments.
Bessent said the two sides agreed to create what he called a “U.S.-China AI dialogue” intended to develop a common understanding of the technology’s benefits and threats. Washington also proposed a notification mechanism covering AI incidents with national security implications.
The initiative appears aimed at managing risks rather than creating binding limits on AI development, despite calls from Anthropic PBC co-founder Dario Amodei and other American tech leaders to slow down frontier advances. Xinhua confirmed that the officials held a dialogue on AI but gave no further details.
And then on Wednesday, just ahead of the meeting between Trump and Xi, Bessent announced that officials agreed on an extension of their trade truce into January. The truce was set to expire on Nov. 10. So, another two months.
Bessent raised some doubts about the potential of achieving a wider deal during a Fox News interview, Wednesday.
“I don’t know whether a bigger deal can be done. I don’t know whether we will just roll the current deal,” he said, noting the extension could give leaders more time to negotiate.
On the economic data front, I normally don’t comment on the S&P Global PMI reports because the ISM database is older, but the bond market was spooked this week by the S&P flash readings that came in far stronger than expected, manufacturing 57.0, services 58.7 (50 the dividing line between growth and contraction).
Separately, August new home sales were stronger than expected; a 684,000 annualized pace.
The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow estimate of third-quarter growth remains a robust 5.0%.
Freddie Mac’s 30-year fixed-rate mortgage climbed to 7.03%, highest since January 2025.
Big week ahead…the Fed’s preferred inflation barometer, the personal consumption expenditures index (PCE), as well as the September jobs report, both certainly market moving.
Earnings season begins in earnest the following week, though we have Micron Technology’s earnings next Wednesday.
Europe and Asia
We had September flash PMI readings in the eurozone, courtesy of S&P Global, the composite index 53.1, a 41-mo. high. Manufacturing was 52.7; the services index 53.0.
Germany: mfg. 53.8; services 52.9.
France: mfg. 50.3; services 51.4.
UK: mfg. 52.0; services 51.7.
Germany: The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) took first place in state elections in northeastern Germany on Sunday, delivering the worst result for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s mainstream conservative party since 1949.
“It’s a disaster,” Merz said after exit polls were published, although he signaled he would fight on as chancellor and continue his reform agenda after speculation that a bad result could prompt him to resign.
The far-left Left Party won in the Berlin state election Sunday, but this result was overshadowed by the AfD’s win even as it marked another defeat for Merz’s ruling coalition.
Turning to Asia…nothing of note out of China on the data front.
Japan’s September flash PMI readings came in at 54.1 for manufacturing, 51.6 for the service sector.
Street Bytes
—Stocks finished up on the week, aided by a rally today fueled by another story the U.S. and Iran were at the technical stage in talks on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Fake news.
The Dow Jones finished the week up 0.3% to 51828, the S&P 500 1.2% and Nasdaq 2.1%. Nasdaq hit new highs on Monday and Tuesday.
—U.S. Treasury Yields
6-mo. 4.35% 2-yr. 4.84% 10-yr. 5.15% 30-yr. 5.48%
Treasury yields soared on renewed inflation fears, not just here but around the world, as oil prices remained high, though down on the week for West Texas Intermediate. But it’s also about debt levels, and the fact the U.S. economy remains resilient, witness the S&P Global flash PMI readings noted above.
Bottom line, the Federal Reserve is poised to hike interest rates again in December.
The yield on the 2-year is now up over 150 basis points since the start of the U.S.-Iran war. The 10-year is at its highest level since 2007. The 30-year since 2004.
—Republican lawmakers are pushing for a ban on diesel exports, seeking relief for truckers and farmers who are paying record high prices for the crucial fuel.
But Economists warn a diesel export ban could quickly overwhelm domestic storage and force refiners to cut production of other fuels like gasoline and jet fuel, sending those prices higher.
—Google’s Gemini model accessed the internet and hacked other companies during a test of its cybersecurity capabilities, the first known example of the company’s artificial-intelligence systems autonomously committing such an act.
The hacks, which the company confirmed last weekend, occurred in May as part of a test run by the company Irregular, which was also involved in similar incidents disclosed by OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta.
In one of the cases, the model guessed passwords until it gained access to a protected system. In the other two cases, the model found credentials in a public repository that allowed it to then access protected systems. In each case, the model ended the intrusion after determining it had accessed a real company’s systems, Google said.
Irregular notified Google about the hacks at the end of July, Google and Irregular said, in the wake of the discovery that OpenAI’s agents had hacked the AI software company Hugging Face. Google didn’t disclose the hacks until the Wall Street Journal reached out with inquiries this week.
Companies are wrestling with how and when to disclose instances of security breaches and model misbehavior, amid a steady drumbeat of such incidents and rising fears over out-of-control AI. Some security breaches have been voluntarily disclosed by the companies themselves; others have been discovered by security researchers and revealed in the media, including a May cyberattack conducted by OpenAI agents against a popular online service for coders.
Google said it didn’t consider the hacks to warrant public disclosure – because its model didn’t cause harm to the companies and ended each intrusion immediately upon determining it had hacked a real company rather than a simulated one. Google compared the episode to a “bug bounty” program in which hackers are rewarded for finding and reporting security vulnerabilities to their owners.
OpenAI released a new framework for incident reporting Wednesday, saying that it would “aim to disclose examples that provide useful evidence” of so-called model misalignment – or AI that acts in ways counter to human intentions or values. Alongside the framework, it released reports on six previously undisclosed examples of misalignment. “A finding doesn’t necessarily need to cause harm or reveal a broader pattern to be worth sharing,” Kai Chen, OpenAI’s head of alignment, said in an interview about the framework.
—President Trump on Truth Social, Saturday PM:
“Over the years, there have been many Hoaxes, all generated by the Radical Left Dumocrats, for purposes of destroying our Country. RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, Global Warming, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, Men in Women’s Sports, Transgender for Everyone, and now, the decimation, or destruction, of AI, commonly known as Artificial Intelligence – And I, as President of the United States, will not stand by and let this happen. It all began with an attack on our Data Centers, until people realized how wealthy and prestigious they were for the Communities in which they were built. Higher Salaries, Lower Taxes, and Safer Streets, was the result, and the crazed Data Center attack has largely failed, so now, in much the same way as they changed the term ‘Global Warming’ to ‘Climate Change,’ in that it covers a much larger ‘territory’ of doubt, they are going straight at AI. We will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry. Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows! However, we will also be looking for BAD, and we can do that, very easily, with our already existing Criminal and Civil Justice System. For this purpose, I am forming the AI Force, much like I did Space Force, which has been a tremendous SUCCESS, in my First Term. To that end, I will be announcing, in the near future, the AI ‘Czar’ – Only High I.Q. individuals need apply! AI is the next Industrial Revolution, or Internet, but will be even larger and more impactful, possibly as much as 25% of our Country’s GDP. We are leading China, and the rest of the World, and I intend to keep it that way! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
–Meanwhile, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CBS News in a weekend interview that tech companies should push forward with the development of AI despite recent warnings from worried industry leaders that there may be a need to pull back due to unease about where the technology could be headed.
“We should go as fast as we can irrespective of anybody else,” when asked if AI development needs to slow down.
“We’re going to go as fast as we can, but we would never ever, and never should, ship products before they’re ready, deliver products that are unsafe,” Huang said. “And nobody’s expecting us to do that. But everybody’s expecting us to succeed and help America be as prosperous as possible.”
Huang accused the leaders of the frontier AI labs of being disingenuous in their warnings that, without more AI oversight, the products they are building could harm humanity in myriad forms.
“Go and read between the lines,” Huang said, referring to AI leaders calling for government regulation of the industry. “They’re actually not asking for more laws. They’re asking to be relieved of the laws we do have.”
“They must be doing it for ulterior reasons,” he added. Huang said he didn’t know exactly what those ulterior reasons are, but that scaring people about the tech is “irresponsible” and “unnecessary.”
–But Wednesday we learned OpenAI’s AI went rogue this year in at least four additional incidents, hacking and trying to break into government and university websites without being instructed to do so, according to researchers and government officials.
The new attacks took place in May and June, before OpenAI’s technology breached the AI start-up Hugging Face in July.
Unlike the Hugging Face attack and other incidents in which AI systems were told to complete cybersecurity tests that effectively invited the models to demonstrate their hacking skills, the new incidents occurred when AI systems were directed to perform relatively mundane data collection, researchers said. When OpenAI’s systems struggled to gather data from websites, they resorted to hacking techniques to get the information.
On June 18, OpenAI hacked an Australian government website and acquired health data. Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, disclosed the episode on Wednesday. Two days later, OpenAI tried to breach the website of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. No private information was obtained, Australian officials said.
The University of New Mexico’s digital library was also targeted, but the attempt to breach it didn’t succeed.
—Meta Platforms’ shares have been surging (until today) as the company appears to have a hit AI product on its hands. Two weeks ago, Meta launched a new, easy-to-use personal AI agent called Muse. The app, which is how users access the agent, has been sitting at No. 1 on Apple’s U.S. App Store since last Friday, sending Meta’s stock up 11% Monday.
But it is already facing scrutiny over privacy concerns. Amazon.com in recent days blocked Meta’s AI agent from shopping on its site, and analysts say competitors are expected to launch their own versions of Muse in the near future.
Muse becomes more useful as the person using it gives the AI agent more access to their life, including emails, text messages and calendars. Many people are nervous about handing the passwords over for those accounts, both in general and especially to Meta, analysts say.
Ahead of the launch, Meta’s AI chief, Alexandr Wang, said in an interview that the company was more concerned about the potential for an agent to accidentally leak personal information or delete important emails than about the AI going rogue.
–Monday was disastrous for travelers heading into and out of Philadelphia and Newark airports, owing to two major tech issues, and there were major ripple effects across the nation and overseas.
At Newark, where there were well over 600 cancellations, the problem was construction workers accidentally cut a cable needed for air traffic control. Philadelphia, which had over 200 cancellations, had a different issue; a key circuit that failed at the air traffic facility there.
The culprit at Newark was NJ Transit, our commuter rail system, with their construction workers accidentally severing the line, with utility markers apparently placed 10 feet from where the line existed.
Additionally, because of the ripple effects, LaGuardia suffered over 500 delays, Atlanta’s Hartfield-Jackson International nearly 800 delays and DFW 950.
—TSA checkpoint numbers vs. 2025
9/24…126 percent of 2025 levels
9/23…111
9/22…80
9/21…90
9/20…128
9/19…73
9/18…96
9/17…117
—Paramount reached a settlement with a group of state attorneys general, an agreement that clears the way for an $81 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery poised to reshape Hollywood.
As part of the agreement, the company behind hits like “The Godfather,” “Top Gun,” “South Park” and “Yellowstone” will avoid having to sell cable channels, according to reports.
Settling the suit effectively removes the most serious remaining hurdle to the deal closing. The question of whether Paramount would be able to close its transaction has hung over the media and entertainment industry since CEO David Ellison won a bidding war against Netflix to buy Warner Bros. in February.
Paramount’s Warner deal would bring two of the movie business’ oldest studios, two major streaming services in Paramount+ and HBO max and dozens of television networks under one owner. It would also give Ellison, the son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, a vast entertainment empire that includes franchises such as Harry Potter, DC superheroes and “Game of Thrones,” as well as cable networks like CNN and Cartoon Network.
A dozen Democrat-led states including New York and Colorado sued in July to block the deal on antitrust grounds. The attorneys general, led by California AG Rob Bonta, argued that the combination of Paramount and Warner would create too much concentration in the markets for theatrical films and television channels.
The coalition of states and Paramount spent the weekend in advanced settlement negotiations discussing a wide range of concessions including an investment in production, selling cable channels and creating a board to ensure that CNN retains editorial independence, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Still, the combined company is set to emerge with nearly $80 billion in debt.
Ellison had earlier cleared a number of other hurdles, gaining approval from the UK government in August, following the European Commission, and the U.S. Justice Department and regulatory bodies in other countries. The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday cleared the way for three Gulf funds to take a significant indirect ownership stake in the combined company.
—General Mills shares rose on Wednesday after the cereal and packaged foods maker posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings even as the company continues to grapple with a difficult demand environment.
The company posted adjusted earnings of 75 cents a share for its fiscal first quarter ended Aug. 30, down from 86 cents a year ago but above Wall Street’s expectations for 72 cents. Net sales fell 3% to $4.4 billion, slightly beating the analyst consensus call for $4.35bn.
The company said the net sales decline was due to the divestiture of its U.S. yogurt business. GIS stuck by its fiscal 2027 business outlook.
General Mills spent much of fiscal 2026, which ended on May 31, lowering prices to win back consumers as budget-conscious shoppers became increasingly value sensitive.
“We are off to an encouraging start in fiscal 2027,” CEO Jeff Harmening said in the earnings release. “We are also executing with discipline in a volatile environment.”
The company is also hoping product innovation could help further rebuild demand. Higher-protein Cheerios, new snack and frozen-food products, and premium pet-food brands such as Tiki Cat are meant to give shoppers reasons to buy beyond discounts.
Foreign Affairs
Russia/Ukraine: The largest Ukrainian drone attack reported so far on the Moscow region killed two people and damaged part of an oil refinery in the capital, authorities said on Sunday, as Russia entered the final day of parliamentary elections.
Ukraine and Russia have continued attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure despite an announcement by President Trump on Monday that they had agreed to stop.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his Telegram channel that Russia had downed more than 1,600 drones since Saturday, including 450 headed for Moscow.
A facility at the Moscow refinery was damaged in the attack, Mayor Sobyanin said, without giving further details.
Ukrainian strikes have knocked out a significant part of Russia’s oil refining capacity, triggering oil product shortages, fuel price increases and long queues at filling stations in many regions across the country’s 11 times zones.
Russia hit Ukraine’s industrial heartland overnight Monday, killing four, while an attack in the north cut power supply to thousands, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.
Moscow has escalated its air war, striking economic targets from businesses and ports to logistics hubs as frontline fighting has largely stalled more than 4 ½ years into the war triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The Russian barrage included an unspecified number of Oniks anti-ship and ballistic missiles, as well as four cruise missiles and 212 drones, Ukraine’s air force said.
President Zelensky met with President Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and said he had asked Trump for a “winter package” of new military equipment and believes the U.S. will pursue a deal to halt attacks on energy infrastructure.
Zelensky told the Wall Street Journal in an interview after the meeting that he’s aware energy remains a Trump priority. “I think he will try to negotiate some energy ceasefire,” Zelensky said.
But he added President Putin is unlikely to respond without new pressure, such as stepped-up sanctions. He said that with elections behind him, Putin is feeling little pressure to adjust his campaign, even with limited advances on the battlefield.
In his speech to the General Assembly on Wednesday, Zelensky urged the world’s leaders to keep choking Russia’s revenues and impede its war efforts, saying “Russia’s revenues must remain a target.”
“When someone gives Russia more money through trade, they give this war more time. And that is exactly why we insist on limiting trade with the aggressor, and why we are burning Russia’s revenues ourselves,” he said in English.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that Russia is prepared to negotiate toward a lasting peace but won’t just “pause” the war. He argued that such a pause would just buy Ukraine and its backers time to line up more weapons.
Zelensky cast doubt on Russia’s interest in ending the fighting.
“Something always seems to stop Putin from saying, ‘That’s it. Enough. Peace,” Zelensky said. “Can you even imagine him without war? He is ‘Patient Zero,’ the one from whom war keeps spreading further. … ‘Patient Zero’ must be stopped.”
And the Ukrainian leader predicted how artificial intelligence, might find some of its darkest uses. “As early as next year, there is a real possibility that AI, not only people, will decide what happens on the battlefield. We need peace before we reach that point.”
Russian drones pounded Kyiv in daylight attacks on Wednesday, killing two and wounding 23. A shopping mall in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia was also hit, causing a large fire.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted more than 500 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions and Crimea, as well as the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
—French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that the threat of hybrid attacks by Russia against Europe and France has intensified.
In a news conference at the Elysee Palace, Macron said he had ordered a plan to protect critical infrastructure and defense industry sites in the face of this threat.
He said France had been targeted by Russian hybrid attacks in the past few weeks which would not be left “without a response.”
A growing number of European leaders have warned that Russia may be preparing attacks to test their commitment to supporting Ukraine.
Hybrid warfare or hybrid attacks are loose terms which tend to describe non-military methods, like cyberattacks, sabotage or misinformation, designed to exert pressure and destabilize an adversary.
These are quite often employed using proxies, but Russia always denies involvement in such attacks despite growing evidence to the contrary.
Macron mentioned last month’s drone attack on Leipzig airport in Germany, blamed on Russia, and remarks by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk [last week’s WIR] suggesting Russia was planning drone and missiles strikes against Poland and other countries on NATO’s eastern flank.
“In recent weeks, the Russian hybrid threat against Europeans and against France has intensified,” he said.
“The intent is to intimidate us and break our effort to support Ukraine. The result will be the exact opposite. We are not intimidated because we know that our security today and tomorrow is at stake in Ukraine.”
—Monday, President Trump posted on Truth Social:
“Russia has unfortunately lost control of its Diesel Oil Industry due to its War with Ukraine. A large number of their Diesel refineries have been blown up and are, at least temporarily, out of commission. This ridiculous and never ending War with Ukraine must be ended. The whole World suffers as 25,000 people, mostly soldiers, are being killed each month. What a shame!”
The opening line is rather disturbing. Trump has invited Putin to the G20 in Miami later this year.
—Russia completed its three-day parliamentary elections, and guess which party came out on top? The Putin-aligned United Russia, while those parties crossing the 5% threshold to hold seats in the new Duma are the same ones that were in the last parliament.
And that Duma was fully behind the Kremlin and the so-called special military operation.
One party that didn’t make it into parliament was Yabloko.
Yabloko had been the only anti-war party allowed to run in this election. But just 12 days after being registered it was removed from the ballot by the Supreme Court. That seemed to be a sign of Kremlin concern that Yabloko’s pro-peace message was gaining too much traction with the public.
“What other result can there be if there were 10 parties on the ballot and they all support the policies of Putin?” Yabloko party chairman Nikolai Rybakov said in an interview.
Putin has ruled out another wave of mobilization for the war, but that was prior to the election. Despite the denials, there is deep anxiety in Russian society over the possibility there will indeed be a new mobilization.
At the very least, the Kremlin is likely to treat the election result as a “mandate from the people” to continue the war.
China: George Will / Washington Post:
“Deterrence failed to protect Ukraine against aggression, the consequences of which are slight compared with those that would follow a failure to deter Chinese President Xi Jinping from invading Taiwan, or attempting to coerce its surrender by measures (intended to be) just short of war. Xi has ordered his military to be able to seize Taiwan in 2027. Deterring this involves influencing one person: Xi. But the myriad variables involved are staggering. Imagine the complexity of a Rubik’s Cube cubed.
Or read “Defending Taiwan” by Eyck Freymann, a Hoover fellow at Stanford. He believes that U.S. abandonment of Taiwan ‘isn’t an option.’ The ‘disastrous, cascading consequences’ of Taiwan’s forced submission to Beijing would include the collapse of U.S. credibility, Beijing’s domination of its Indo-Pacific neighbors, including their involvement in the global economy, and an incentive for Japan and South Korea to acquire nuclear weapons.
“Taiwan, a vibrant democracy of 23 million, is the world’s most important supplier of the high-end chips that power economic modernity, including 90 percent of the most advanced chips powering artificial intelligence. U.S. policy emphasizes that any resolution to cross-strait tensions must be achieved without coercion, and in a manner democratically acceptable to Taiwan’s people. Washington leaves ambiguous what it would do if either side changed the status quo unilaterally.
“Xi’s constant ‘gray zone’ operations – economic, legal, cyber and sociocultural – include military violations of Taiwan’s territorial waters and airspace. Xi might hope that these, perhaps supplemented by a quarantine (Beijing’s control, justified as ‘customs enforcement,’ of Taiwan’s international trade), will, Freymann writes, ‘incrementally establish the norm that Taiwan no longer has full practical control over’ its global economic interactions.
“This slow death of sovereignty might lead to a blockade. This act of war could starve Taiwan (which usually has almost a million foreign nationals on its soil) of food, energy and munitions. Breaking a blockade would require war, including striking targets on the Chinese mainland, and mining China’s harbors….
“China cannot mobilize for war secretly. And an invasion, Freymann says, ‘would rank among the most complex operations in modern history,’ much more daunting than D-Day. Between October and March, Freymann writes, harsh weather in the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait often deters civil aviation and passenger ships. In winter, there can be 50-foot waves. Between June and October, there is an average of six typhoons a year. Only April and October are suitable for amphibious operations.
“These would require air superiority, which China cannot assume. And naval mines laid by Taiwan could make China’s troop transports vulnerable in narrow corridors.
“Preemptive Chinese strikes on U.S. bases on Okinawa and Guam, and/or U.S. strikes on the mainland, would ignite a war. Freymann: ‘No nuclear-armed power has ever launched a large-scale kinetic strike against another.’
“And: ‘China’s extensive missile arsenal has created a high-risk zone extending roughly 600 kilometers off its coast.’ The U.S. advantage in stealthy submarines is eroding.
“Deterrence, Freymann writes, requires convincing Xi that America can ‘decisively’ defeat China in an ‘all-out air-naval war’ near China. ‘Logistics,’ Freymann says, ‘is the bridge between a nation’s economy and its military operations.’ The inadequacy of America’s bridge has been revealed by Ukraine’s needs and the war against Iran.
“Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports ‘a profound shift in Taiwan’s identity’: In 1992, only 17.6 percent of Taiwan residents identified solely as Taiwanese. Today 63.1 percent do. The share identifying solely as Chinese has plummeted from 25.5 percent to 2.5 percent. Time is widening a cultural divide that increasingly precludes peaceful ‘reunifications’ (Xi’s propagandistic term) of Taiwan with Xi’s Communist Party state.
“Freymann says, startlingly, without elaboration – that by seizing Taiwan, Xi could make himself ‘untouchable by rivals in his old age.’ It is relevant, and unsettling, that Xi has thrived in such a high-risk, high-stakes, uncivilized political milieu.”
—Bloomberg reported that the Chinese government has taken possession of potentially sensitive F-35 stealth aircraft parts that were inexplicably diverted to Hong Kong while being sent to the U.S. from Australia, people briefed on the incident said.
UPS was shipping a cockpit canopy and weapons-bay door from an Australian military F-35 that was being sent to the U.S. for inspection and possible repair or disposal in late May, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters.
Both parts, supplied by Lockheed Martin Corp., were coated with radar-absorbing material that enhances their stealth capabilities, two of the people said.
North Korea: Pyongyang launched a ballistic missile off its eastern coast on Sunday, its second test in roughly a week and days after the regime accused the U.S. of driving tensions on the Korean Peninsula through a series of military drills.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it identified the weapon as a ballistic missile. Japan’s defense ministry also said it appeared to be a ballistic missile.
On Saturday, North Korea dismissed a resolution by the UN nuclear watchdog against Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
The North last week condemned a U.S.-led naval drill which included South Korea and Japan and which ran from August 29 to September 10 near Guam.
Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of Kim Jong Un, on Friday blamed U.S.-led military drills for “ever-worsening” tensions on the Korean Peninsula and vowed no change in the country’s course to strengthen its nuclear arsenal.
Greenland: President Trump said last Friday his administration had reached a deal with Denmark and Greenland giving the United States “permanent control over security, and all other needs,” in the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
The full contours of this weren’t immediately clear, but shortly after Trump’s announcement, leaders of Greenland and Denmark issued statements indicating they expected an agreement to be signed soon.
Earlier in his term, Trump made grandiose claims about taking over Greenland, causing a rupture in the Western alliance, only to back away. But more recently, he had dispatched aides for confidential talks with officials from Denmark and Greenland on a much larger role on the Arctic island instead.
In his Truth Social posts last Friday, Trump said that under the deal, “no U.S. adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval.”
Trump said in the post that the United States “will begin the process of developing a large Military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland, of which there are many.”
Trump also said the U.S. would “FOREVER have the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the security of Greenland.”
America first established a military presence in Greenland during World War II, and in 1951 reached an agreement with Denmark granting the U.S. broad freedom to operate military installations on the island. The agreement, which still exists, did not include an expiration date.
Editorial / Wall Street Journal
“The icy outpost is valuable strategic territory, though it’s fair to ask whether this deal could have been reached without the collateral damage to U.S. alliances from Mr. Trump’s bullying threats.”
That’s been my point. Nothing precluded us from working out an agreement, without the turmoil and chaos all along.
Trump rightfully identified we needed to expand our footprint, after going from as many as 17 facilities during the Cold War to one base.
But as the Journal concludes:
“Meanwhile, that sound you hear is a sigh of relief across Europe, in Congress – and even in sensible corners of the Trump Administration – that the deal has defused a ticking bomb in America’s alliances and global prestige.”
Random Musings
—Presidential approval ratings….
Rasmussen: 44% approve of President Trump’s job performance, 56% disapprove (Sept. 25).
Yours truly once again participated in the latest Rasmussen phone survey.
A new NBC News poll had Trump’s approval rating at 41% among registered voters, 56% disapproval.
Fifty-five percent of voters say they believe Trump’s policies have hurt the economy, up from 48% in March.
Democrats only hold a 5-point edge in the generic ballot for control of Congress, 50%-45%, which is nothing. Before the 2018 election, when Democrats rode an anti-Trump wave to the House majority in his first midterm, Democrats had a 12-point advantage!
A new Economist/YouGov poll released Tuesday found Trump’s approval rating had slipped five points from 40% to 35%, while a new Reuters/Ipsos survey had Trump at 32%, a new record low across both of his terms in office.
A new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, had just 26% of U.S. adults approving of President Trump’s handling of the war in Iran, down from 33% a month after the war began.
Much of the decline in approval of his handling of Iran comes among Republicans. Views among Democrats and independents have been steadily negative throughout the conflict. In March, though, 73% of Republicans approved of the way Trump was handling it. Now, that figure stands at 60%.
—President Trump on Truth Social, Monday PM:
“If Senate Republicans don’t TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, the Dumocrats will, and I will be, despite how well our Party is doing, the last Republican President! The Dumocrats will vote in Puerto Rico (4% Republican Vote), and Washington, D.C. (3% Republican Vote), pick up 4 Senators, 8 Congressmen/women, tremendous numbers of Popular and Electoral College Votes and, importantly, control the Voting Mechanisms and Systems, both Legal and otherwise, throughout the United States. It will be impossible for Republicans to ever win an Election again. In other words, it will be THE END OF AMERICA!”
—Journalists from CNN, MSNOW and Politico were denied access to the White House grounds on Saturday, a day after President Trump announced a ban on the three news organizations because of reporting he disliked.
The president attributed the ban to his displeasure with the outlets’ coverage of his administration. “There’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon.
“Now, if they want to write them, that’s fine, but I don’t have to let them into my – into the people’s house,” the president added.
Friday, the White House Correspondents’ Association, responded to the ban in a statement, signed by Jacqui Heinrich, WHCA president and Fox News reporter:
“The president said it plainly in the Oval Office, describing his own planned action as a ‘ban on the free press.’
“The Constitution protects the freedom of the press from government interference. That protection does not depend on whether the president likes a news organization’s coverage, agrees with its reporting, or approves of the questions its journalists ask.
“This is about more than the rights of journalists. It is about the right of the American people to receive a full and independent account of the activities, policies and decisions of whoever occupies the nation’s highest office.
“The WHCA stands in defense of our colleagues at CNN, MSNOW, and POLITICO who are being singled out for doing their jobs.”
Saturday afternoon, after the three networks had been denied access to the White House grounds, Jacqui Heinrich, on behalf of the WHCA, issued a second statement:
“Today’s action revoking access for journalists from CNN, POLITICO, and MSNOW violates the First Amendment. The implications extend beyond these organizations: a standard used to exclude one news outlet because of its coverage could be applied to any outlet in the future. The American people, through a free and independent press, must be able to scrutinize those elected to power, regardless of whether government officials view it favorably. That’s why courts have repeatedly held that once the White House provides access to journalists, it cannot deny that access arbitrarily or based on the content of their reporting. The WHCA calls on the administration to immediately restore our colleagues’ access.”
Monday, the three organizations notified the Trump administration that they were filing a lawsuit over being denied White House access.
Major television networks then agreed to suspend their pooled coverage of the president the same day.
The White House press pool is a small group of correspondents, TV journalists and photographers who are the eyes and ears of the broader White House press corps for coverage of the president.
Four other networks that shared the responsibility for providing television coverage of presidential events with CNN – ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC – said that they would suspend those efforts, which entail distributing footage that is carried by news organizations worldwide.
CNN had been slated to provide coverage for the president’s travel on Monday to the UN General Assembly. Trump’s activities were still expected to be covered by print, radio and wire journalists, but the audio accompanying any footage, such as his dedication of the new White House helipad, was missing.
Trump posted on Truth Social, Monday PM, in part:
“Virtually every story about me, or anything having to do with me, is negative, wrong and, in many cases, DANGEROUS for our Country! No matter how GREAT my Achievements, they trivialize and demean. The fact is, I won all seven Swing States, the Popular Vote, the Electoral College (312 to 226), and the Counties throughout America by 86%, and yet it is reported that I get 94% bad publicity. With such a Crooked and Corrupt Press, how did I win in such a LANDSLIDE? It is because the Media has NO credibility, and that is a very bad thing for our Nation! Why should I have to give ‘access’ to such people? Perhaps Judge Kelly [Ed. who will rule on the lawsuit] could explain that! In any event, I have an obligation to fight for the Success and Safety of our Country. FAKE NEWS IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY, and I will do whatever is necessary to make sure that the U.S.A. thrives. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
On Tuesday, as Trump was arriving at the UN for his speech, CNN reporter Kaitlin Collins was there and asked the president a question.
“It’s an honor to be here. I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me,” Trump said.
Collins responded, “The United Nations allowed us in, sir.”
“You should not be here covering me,” Trump replied. “You said you weren’t going to cover me. You shouldn’t be covering me.”
Early Thursday morning, a federal judge ordered President Trump to temporarily restore White House access for the three news outlets.
The removal of reporters’ press badges was likely done without “constitutionally adequate due process,” Judge Timothy Kelly said in a ruling.
“The ‘general rule’ is that ‘individuals must receive notice and an opportunity to be heard before the Government deprives them’ of a constitutionally protected interest,” Kelly wrote.
The temporary restraining order, which will be in place for 14 days, marks an early win for the news outlets in their latest clash with the administration.
Kelly, a Trump appointee in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., said the government had offered “little to back up their asserted national security interest” for instituting the ban, adding that Trump had instead focused on “the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of Plaintiffs’ reporting.”
Reporters from the three news outlets were back on the ground Thursday afternoon, but were not allowed to cover the state dinner with cameras.
—President Trump said on Sunday his planned 250-foot triumphal arch in Washington would be built to host “large numbers of drones,” snipers and ammunition, as the administration appeared prepared to justify another construction project by citing national security.
Trump said the arch would be “a top-grade Military Complex/Triumphal Arch, to house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage.” The proposal would appear to place an arsenal and military staging ground in the center of the nation’s capital.
“There will be no facility like this anywhere in the World,” Trump said on Truth Social.
This is the single, stupidest idea I have ever heard.
Trump is returning to a familiar playbook he has used to circumvent normal processes and defend some of his more contentious projects in court.
After initially emphasizing that his ballroom was necessary mainly to host bigger crowds for social events at the White House, Trump shifted his argument as the $400 million project faced legal scrutiny. He switched to arguing that the construction was a national security imperatives because it included a major upgrade to the bunker beneath the now-demolished East Wing of the White House. That argument has appeared persuasive in the Supreme Court hearings over the project.
—Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao has said that eight crew members who were assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide during their lengthy deployment.
The disclosure was in a letter to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York on Tuesday in response to questions from the Democrat on the well-being of sailors onboard following mounting concerns.
Cao’s letter denied widespread concerns about broken plumbing and shortages of fresh food, but acknowledged temporary “localized piping failures,” while some meal options were reduced for a “short time.”
—Southern California braced for more potentially destructive conditions from a “coastally trapped Kelvin wave.”
Homes from south Orange County to Malibu were flooded and severely damaged. Erosion chewed away the coast from Carlsbad to Long Beach.
Laguna Beach, Dana Point and Carlsbad last week declared local states of emergency, citing coastal erosion and sand loss from the effects of a south swell brought on by Hurricane Marie.
Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for the entire state ahead of what is becoming an historic El Nino that could bring months of awful weather with flooding, mud and rockslides, more coastal erosion, and severe weather through relentless winter storms and atmospheric rivers.
Globally, southeast Asia is literally under fire from the severe El Nino, fueling wildfires across farmland, depleting water supplies for major cities and hurting fish catches in the region.
The water level of a major reservoir supplying the bustling capital city of Jakarta – the world’s biggest metropolis – is dropping inch by inch. For good reason alarm is growing over the need for alternative water supplies for the city of 42 million.
Southeast Asia’s wet season generally runs from June to October, when rains usually replenish reservoirs, cool overheated cities and supply water for irrigation ahead of the next planting season.
One example, the world’s top three exporters of rice – India, Vietnam and Thailand – are among the nation’s most likely to be hit hard by El Nino this year.
Asian governments that have been drawing on their financial reserves to mitigate the Iran war’s ripple effects of higher energy costs and scarce fertilizer supplies have less capacity to cope with this year’s intensifying El Nino, which is forecast to peak in December.
–This weekend, Americans are watching two big storms. Hurricane Nolo has put Hawaii on high alert, with the potential to bring high winds and catastrophic flooding to the Big Island, with the National Hurricane Center warning of up to 35 inches of rain.
And here in the East, we are watching a rare September Nor’easter, which could bring severe beach erosion and flooding to coastal areas (as the system already has in Virginia and North Carolina’s outer banks). This could be a big story by Sunday on national newscasts. I just hope my area doesn’t get a lot of wind because we tend to lose power with all our trees. One model has it looking a little like Superstorm Sandy, which did a number on New Jersey.
But wait, there’s more! Hurricane Polo, back to a Category 5 off Mexico’s coast, could impact Texas and New Mexico next week with heavy rains after it moves across Baja California and northern Mexico.
—
Pray for the men and women of our armed forces…and all the fallen.
Slava Ukraini.
God bless America.
—
Gold $4295…Silver $64.45
Oil (WTI) $92.20…Brent $104.30
Regular Gas: $4.49; Diesel: $6.50 [$3.15 – $3.68 yr. ago]
Bitcoin: $84,005
Returns for the week 9/21-9/25
Dow Jones +0.3% [51828]
S&P 500 +1.2% [7743]
S&P MidCap unch
Russell 2000 -0.6%
Nasdaq +2.1% [27068]
Returns for the period 1/1/26-9/18/26
Dow Jones +7.8%
S&P 500 +13.1%
S&P MidCap +10.5%
Russell 2000 +14.6%
Nasdaq +16.5%
Hang in there.
Brian Trumbore
