The stock market is about to suffer a 'snapback' and will lose much of this year's gains as 'speculation is hitting extreme levels,' BofA warns
The S&P 500 just notched its best quarter since 2020 and is up about 9% so far this year, but it’s mostly downhill from here, according to Bank of America.
In a note on Tuesday, analysts reaffirmed their year-end price target of 7,100 for the broad market index, representing a 5% drop from the week’s closing level.
“Our bear market signposts suggest speculation is hitting extreme levels as high multiple stocks have gapped up demonstrably, an event that has historically preceded a valuation ‘snapback,'” BofA said.
The bank added that S&P 500 companies are generating less free cash flow relative to net income compared to historical trends. That’s as so-called hyperscalers have seen their free cash flow plunge due to massive spending on the AI boom, eroding their earnings.
At the same time, the Federal Reserve is fighting sticky inflation after more than five years of letting it run above its 2% target. BofA recently predicted the Fed has now run out of patience and will hike rates three times this year to finally rein in inflation.
To be sure, the S&P 500 generally saw positive returns during previous tightening cycles, as stocks peaked six to 12 months after the first rate hike.
But Fed rate hikes now would hit differently, BofA explained, because the S&P 500 is more expensive ahead of a first rate hike than any other cycle, except for the one that ran from 1999 to 2000.
Chip stocks in particular have been on astronomical runs lately as the unrelenting AI boom sends demand soaring. Micron Technology, for example, is up 242% so far in 2026 and up 700% from a year ago, even after a recent selloff.
That’s fueled worries that the good times may be coming to an end soon. After hitting an all-time high of 7,621 just a month ago, the S&P 500 has gone on wild swings, losing about 2% in the process.
Elsewhere, stocks have been on even worse stomach-churning rollercoasters. South Korea’s high-flying Kospi stock index, which is dominated by AI darlings SK Hynix, and Samsung, set a new record a few weeks ago only to suffer its fifth worst daily plunge ever days later.
Such moves are especially worrisome for Capital Economics, which pointed out that similar selloffs have previously only happened during bear markets like during the Asian financial crisis, the dot-com bubble, and the Great Financial Crisis.
“This volatility is, in our view, evidence of excessive froth and calls into the question the sustainability of this rally,” analysts said.
Even a mostly bullish outlook from JPMorgan last month came with a “flash crash” warning. Still, analysts raised their year-end S&P 500 target to 7,800 from 7,600, citing strong earnings estimates.
The forecast assumes the Fed holds rate steady this year, then raises next year, while the market’s top gainers will remain highly concentrated in AI stocks.
“That said, the path higher is likely to be non-linear given a tougher bar into 2Q earnings, crowded Momentum positioning (especially Low- Quality and Speculative Growth segments) that continues to face high probability of a flash-crash, rapidly increasing equity supply, and potentially tighter monetary policy that could constrain equity multiples,” JPMorgan wrote.
Others on Wall Street are more bullish. Yardeni Research President Ed Yardeni, who has been beating the drum about another Roaring Twenties since the decade began, hiked his year-end target for the S&P 500 to 8,250 from 7,700 in May.
He cited strong corporate earnings and expectations that they will remain robust. Yardeni backed his view over the weekend and dismissed comparisons between today’s AI boom and the dot-com bubble.
“The late 1990s meltup was led by the forward P/E of the S&P 500 Information Technology sector,” he wrote on Saturday. “It was driven by FOMO (fear of missing out). The current bull market is driven by FEMO (fabulous earnings momentum).”
Before FDR got all the New Deal regulation in place in the 1930s, the US could pretty much count on some kinda crash or crisis every 8 - 15 years.
Since the 1980s, "conservatives" have been chipping away at all the laws and regulations, and sure as fuck - we've been getting all the old shit back again, right on schedule.
AI boom risks global financial crash, warn central bankers
Reversal of ‘excessive’ tech investments could have serious economic consequences, report finds
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said on Sunday that “excessive” spending on new AI data centres and opaque transactions risked a financial meltdown similar to the global credit crunch nearly two decades ago.
The BIS, known as the bank for central banks, said there was growing “peril” in financial markets from the complex web of financial ties between AI giants, shadow banks and data centre builders unravelling.
“Financial stability could ... be at risk in the event of an AI bust,” the BIS said. “Should hyperscalers slow or halt the aggressive pace of capex deployment, many borrowers across the supply chain could struggle to replace lost revenue and service their debt.
“The opacity of AI-sector financing compounds these vulnerabilities.”
Pablo Hernández de Cos, the BIS general manager, said there were major questions about whether the boom would benefit the wider economy and warned a reversal of “AI exuberance” could have serious economic consequences.
“One risk is that large-scale investment in AI infrastructure becomes excessive, as each firm tries to outcompete rivals and dominate market share,” he said.
“This could leave the sector more vulnerable if AI underdelivers, possibly bringing the current investment boom to an abrupt end, with large macroeconomic consequences.”
The BIS warning is one of the strongest yet on risks lurking in the AI boom. The Bank of England warned in December that share prices were now the “most stretched” they had been since the 2008 crisis.
The International Monetary Fund has also compared AI valuations to the excesses of the dotcom bubble.
Big tech groups such as OpenAI and Nvidia have turned to complex financial transactions to fund AI’s development, with bot developers often receiving loans from chipmakers to buy the chipmaker’s microchips.
Shadow banks, known as private credit funds, have also piled money into AI data centres to benefit from rising demand for the new technology.
The shadow banking industry is where companies borrow from funds and private equity houses rather than banks. It has expanded rapidly in recent years as regulators around the world have tightened the rules governing mainstream banking.
However, the report added that “signs of stress are already visible” in private credit funds, with many inundated with redemption requests and in some cases forced to block withdrawals.
The BIS said the global economy had weathered Donald Trump’s tariffs and his war on Iran and enjoyed a boost from technology stocks.
However, there were growing “perils” from rising inflation and speculative AI investments which had echoes of similar financial crashes.
‘Potential downside risks’
The bank noted there were parallels between the AI infrastructure surge and the dotcom boom, as well as similarities with the British railway mania of the 1840s or the “roaring 20s” before the Great Depression.
“The scale and pace of the current AI investment boom accompanied by expectations of large productivity payoffs bear resemblance to these precedents, highlighting potential downside risks in the near term,” the report said.
US and Asian stocks linked to the AI boom have swung wildly in recent days amid fears the tech rally could come to a grinding halt.
Global tech stocks plunged on Friday after Apple said it would increase prices because of higher microchip costs.
South Korea’s blue chip index, which is heavily tied to the fortunes of the country’s AI chip businesses, has also seen swings of more than 10pc in a single day.
The BIS also warned that “bottlenecks” in data centre construction or a shortage of chip supplies could threaten the AI boom.
AI giants have already taken to rationing access to their most powerful tools at peak times because of a lack of capacity.
The Financial Times reported on Sunday that Google had capped Meta’s use of the search giant’s Gemini AI because it was struggling to meet the Facebook owner’s demand.
A series of trillion-dollar floats are also testing the appetite of investors for high-risk bets.
SpaceX went public earlier this month, notching a valuation of nearly $2bn (£1.5bn), but shares have since plummeted 25pc from their peak.
The BIS also warned that, with near-record levels of public debt, many countries had failed to secure their public finances during periods of economic growth. Instead they were spending beyond their means, leaving them vulnerable.
As MAGA and QAnon and Wingnut Media spent all those years squawking about The Global Cabal Of Elites, and The Bilderbergs, and The Rothschilds, and and and - clear-headed observers had to have noticed they were building up to something nefarious.
And while I was kinda right, I was too willing to dismiss too much of it as simple demagoguery, so of course, I was not as clear-headed as I thought I was.
Well guess what. They weren't fantasizing about it, and they weren't trying to point us away from it - they were telling us what we would eventually be expected to accept, and even embrace.
Trump’s Board of Peace plans to grant itself sweeping immunity, documents show
Draft resolution seeks to shield board members and security forces from potential prosecution for work in Gaza
The UN-sanctioned Board of Peace announced by Donald Trump earlier this year to rule Gaza is planning a sweeping grant of legal immunity for itself, according to a draft of the resolution obtained by the Guardian. The draft language would also let the organization obtain public property in Gaza “free of charge”.
The four-page resolution, labeled “sensitive but unclassified”, extends broad protections to every member of the Board of Peace and its administrative affiliate, the office of the high representative (OHR), as well as to the Palestinian technocrats, international military forces and nonresident contractors lined up to perform work in Gaza. It defines legal processes from which they would have immunity as “any arrest, detention or legal proceedings in the courts or other entities in Gaza”.
It is unclear if the document is attempting to relieve the Board of Peace and its affiliates from prosecution in international courts, in addition to potential claims in Gaza.
The Board of Peace’s chair, Donald Trump, would have the right to waive someone’s legal immunity, pending majority support from his peace board, the June 2026 draft resolution states.
The seven-member “executive board” that leads the Board of Peace includes Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner; special envoy Steve Witkoff; the president’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles; and his national security adviser, Marco Rubio. Though countries have pledged billions, most have not yet transferred funds to support its work in Gaza and no major contracts have been issued.
US President Donald Trump holds a signing founding charter at the "Board of Peace" meeting during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 22, 2026. What is Trump’s Board of Peace and who is involved?
The Board of Peace did not answer specific questions about the draft resolution, but an official said in a statement: “There is no operative resolution or immunity framework of the kind described in your questions … Any suggestion that this process is designed to create lawlessness or impunity is wrong, misleading and gets the issue entirely backwards.”
The official added that “the suggestion that the President will have a role in establishing or waiving immunity in Gaza [is] categorically false”, and that “the Board will ensure all personnel, contractors, and participating entities follow applicable law and operate under clear rules, oversight, and accountability mechanisms”. The official did not explain what the oversight and accountability would be.
Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian diplomat serving as the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, has been meeting in Cairo this week with Palestinian administrators selected by the Board of Peace to govern Gaza. The discussions have focused on refining the framework for the group’s work in the territory, according to one person familiar with the agenda. The prospective immunity resolution titled “RESOLUTION NO 2026/3” has not been shared with the Palestinian cohort, the person said.
‘No external oversight’
Six lawyers specializing in US contracting law and international armed conflict reviewed the draft resolution for the Guardian.
If the resolution goes into force, they said, it is unclear how Board of Peace officials, soldiers, and contractors would be held accountable if there are shootings or accidents that affect Gaza residents, or even how the group might resolve routine disputes over business or land use there.
US-led reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan were often plagued by controversies of corruption or cases of civilian deaths or abuse at the hands of American contractors, including those working for Blackwater and KBR, who have since faced litigation in US courts. Any reconstruction effort in Gaza could face similar challenges.
“It looks like an attempt to exempt the board, and all of its personnel, from accountability for potential legal violations,” said Emily Schaeffer Omer-Man, an expert in litigating international humanitarian law in Israeli, American and foreign courts.
Several lawyers, including Omer-Man, pointed to the specific risks associated with section 7 of the draft resolution, entitled “Third Party Liability/Claims”, which lays out a system for the Board of Peace to consider and adjudicate any claims for “property loss or damage and for personal injury, illness or death” arising from its work in Gaza.
“They are basically saying there’s no external oversight, including applicable international law regarding occupation,” said Noura Erakat, an international law professor at Rutgers University. “It’s creating a legal system unto itself.”
Contractors have also pressed for clarity about the legal protections afforded for potential work in Gaza, where the Trump-backed peace board has solicited bids for rubble removal, security work and a vast reconstruction effort envisaged there. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has described transforming the coastal territory into a site of luxury resorts, hi-tech cities and regional business hubs.
Laws governing international contractors and military forces are usually outlined in “status of forces agreements” between countries, but there is no such document for Gaza. American contractors can be subject to US law for certain crimes even if they operate overseas.
“I would think any company would want a very clear legal framework,” said Doug Brooks, president emeritus of the International Stability Operations Association. “There are liability issues any serious American company would want to be clear about.”
Israeli officials don’t want to negotiate a status of forces agreement in Gaza because Israel doesn’t want to recognize Gaza as a state, one American security contractor said.
“It’s pretty important for political and legal cover and insurance,” the contractor said. “It gives the people of Gaza clarity and comfort around how they’ll be treated and dealt with by contractors they may engage with.”
Free facilities for the Board of Peace
The final section of the Board of Peace’s draft resolution, entitled “Premises of the Board of Peace, OHR, and ISF”, says that the group “shall be provided, free of charge, public premises and facilities needed for the accomplishment of the missions in Gaza”.
Legal experts said that this singular phrase could open the door to illegal confiscation of Palestinian property. It’s not clear which group – Israel, Hamas or the Palestinian Authority – would be responsible for “providing” the Board of Peace with facilities, and under what terms.
The Board of Peace plans to build a base for an international military force, as well as logistics hubs to power its operations there, according to contractors involved in the process. The international force is intended to assist with disarming Hamas, which is a crucial step in Trump’s peace plan. Israel has refused to proceed with steps outlined by a November 2025 ceasefire agreement if Hamas continues to bear arms. “By unilaterally declaring the power to seize Palestinian land, property and buildings for their own use without consent, compensation or readdress, the Board of Peace is taking a page out of Israel’s repressive playbook,” said Omar Shakir, executive director at Dawn, a non-profit dedicated to investigating the impacts of US foreign policy in the Middle East. “Far from signaling an end to genocide, apartheid and occupation, this document suggests entrenching some of its ugliest signature characteristics. This risks not only complicity, but direct perpetration of grave abuses.”
Several attorneys raised questions about the Board of Peace’s legal authority to assume control of public facilities and premises.
“If they don’t have a status of forces agreement with Israel, then it’s not clear what the board’s legal authority would be,” said Brad Parker, associate director of policy at the Center for Constitutional Rights. CCR attorneys have represented victims in US litigation against Blackwater and other American security contractors for alleged abuses in Iraq.
The UN security council authorized the Board of Peace to oversee the administration of Gaza until 31 December 2027. The UN charter affords its diplomats and organizations specific legal protections for work conducted on behalf of UN missions abroad. Language in the Board of Peace’s draft resolution appears to draw on those existing frameworks, which include protections against the arrest or detention of UN diplomats during official work, as well as the seizure of UN property. It’s unclear if the Board of Peace could draw on the UN immunities for its own protection.
The draft says that the resolution will go into force upon Mladenov’s signature. The Board of Peace did not respond to questions about what additional parties, if any, would sign its sweeping resolution.
“How valuable is this document if they are the only ones signing it?” Shakir said.
I don't believe these guys (Tucker, MTG, Megyn, et al) are having a change of heart. I think they're still just as assholeish as ever. They just know the winds are shifting, and they have to move with that shift in order to stay in the clover - in the tall cotton - high on that hog. Whatever folksie farm-ey metaphor you prefer.
The point: Once you get a taste of big money - and the power big money brings with it - it's really hard to walk away from it.
Tucker Carlson Burns It Down, Tells Trump, ‘You Have Failed’
On Wednesday’s edition of The Tucker Carlson Show, the host slammed his former Fox News colleague Mark Levin, who has been one of the most vocal supporters of the Iran war, which the the U.S. and Israel launched on Feb. 28. In the weeks leading up to Trump’s decision to bomb the country, Levin and Carlson separately visited the White House, where they lobbied Trump for and against the war, respectively.
Carlson accused Levin of wanting to censor Americans who criticize the war, as well as the Israeli government for its role in lobbying Trump to launch it.
Carlson then casually segued from talking about Levin to Trump, without mentioning the president’s name. Nevertheless, the content of his remarks made it very clear who he was addressing. He said the president has abandoned everyday Americans and even has contempt for them.
“You hate people like that,” Carlson stated. “And there may be other reasons you hate them, but you certainly hate them because they are a reminder of how you have failed. You have not done a good job running this country. You don’t even care to try. You’d rather run the world or the empire. You don’t want to improve Baltimore. You don’t care about Gary, Indiana. Rural America makes you sick… Normal leaders would ask themselves, ‘Why are people mad? What are they dissatisfied with? How can I help them? They’re clearly in pain.'”
Carlson then said the war on Iran is the most significant thing “they” have done, but that it is failing.
“They’ve never looked inward once in 10 years,” he continued, suddenly replacing “you” with the third person. “And now they’ve reached the point of maximum frustration, where the biggest thing they’ve ever done, which is try to regime-change the Iranian government, and it hasn’t worked. That’s the biggest thing they’ve ever done. They staked everything on that. And you should just know that at this point, now that that’s not working out, they will not be mad at themselves. They’re gonna be mad at you for not liking it or appreciating it or for talking about it at all. Or for holding on to your outdated expectations about what life in this country was like then and should be now. ”
Last week, Carlson apologized for endorsing Trump.
“You know, we’ll be tormented by it for a long time,” he said while interviewing brother Buckley Carlson, who also backed the president. “I will be, and I want to say I’m sorry for misleading people, and it was not intentional. That’s all I’ll say.”
"It was unintentional"
WTF - the fact that Carlson didn't burst into flames at that very moment is further proof for me that there is no god.
Trump's tax cuts give the richest 5% big breaks — while everyone else pays more. The numbers tell a very different story than the White House
U.S. President Donald Trump has lauded the most recent tax season as a win for average Americans. His administration, too, attributes the "greater than ever before" (1) refunds to the "Working Family Tax Cuts" (2) and "the great, big, beautiful bill" (3).
Indeed, some of the changes the administration introduced promised "no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security." Spokesman Kush Desai even said in a statement to NBC (4), "[The] vast majority of working-class seniors" and the "vast majority of everyday workers" will not pay any taxes on Social Security, tipped or overtime income. In theory this should raise tax refunds.
But while Trump has said "[People] are getting so much more money than they thought," the picture he paints gets more complicated when income enters the picture.
The latest IRS update (5) shows 77.8 million returns had been processed as of March 20, 2026, with an average refund increasing from $3,284 to $3,561 — a $277 bump from a year ago. But the portion of those reaping the greatest benefits from Trump's tax changes are those earning the most, not the working class families Trump's administration is targeting in its messaging.
Here's why the catch is in the details.
The 2026 filing season changes
The Tax Foundation (6) found Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" reduced individual taxes by roughly $129 billion for 2025, noting refunds "will undoubtedly rise for millions of taxpayers."
The reality, according to the Tax Policy Center (7), is that 60% of those tax savings from Trump's sweeping changes will benefit the richest 20% of households — those earning over $217,000.
And the savings are progressively greater the higher up the income ladder you go: A recent report by the progressive-leaning Institute On Taxation and Economic Policy (8) shows that those tax cuts disproportionately benefit the richest 5%, with the top 1% receiving $117 billion in tax cuts in 2026 — part of a $1 trillion reduction over the next 10 years.
The other catch is that with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (9), Trump has also eliminated more than $40 billion over 10 years in funding for IRS tax enforcement that was earmarked specifically for investigating tax evasion by the wealthy, reports the organization.
This effectively removes disincentives and oversight for prospective tax cheats, who are also some of the wealthiest. This matters because the ROI on investigating the richest 10% (10) is $12 for every dollar spent (with some estimates going as high as $26 dollars for every dollar spent).
"We have the richest Americans who control massive amounts of the country's wealth, who are literally able to opt out of the tax system entirely. Meanwhile, anybody who earns a salary is paying a lot of taxes," Ray Madoff, a professor at Boston College Law School who studies tax policy, told NBC (4).
Similarly, many corporations will see little or no corporate income tax and tax cuts for foreign investors in U.S. businesses by $32 billion in 2026.
That leaves the bottom 95% of taxpayers, who will see tax increases on average, "driven by expanded tariffs and income tax changes." Additionally, while the OBBBA extends earlier Trump tax provisions, it also enabled the termination of Biden's health tax credit, which aimed to reduce health insurance coverage costs for Americans.
What this means is that though the average filer's return may be up by $277, this average includes high-income earners and those who see greatest tax reductions, skewing the widely-publicized angle that Trump's tax changes favor "working Americans."
The reality for the remaining 95% of Americans
Instead, middle-income Americans will see a rise in taxes by an average of $900 in 2026, the ITEP report says. And depending on where you live, this average may be higher: The middle 60% of Americans who reside in Wyoming, Nebraska and Florida will pay most (between $1,430 and $1,240 on average, respectively).
And while the "no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security" does exist, it exists with considerable caveats that aren't as well publicized. This comes down to the way the taxes are structured and that they are only partial exemptions.
"We were disappointed," Sherie Cummings, a casino cocktail waitress on the Las Vegas strip, told NBC (4). "I feel like a lot of the servers, bartenders, waitresses, tip earners were gaslit by the 'no tax on tips.'" Filing with her husband, a bartender, she expected that she'd be able to write off the entirety of the $60,000 in tips the two brought in — a sizable portion of their joint wages. Instead they discovered the "no tax on tips" was capped at $25,000.
The tax cuts also exclude large groups such as railroad workers and truck drivers from overtime tax savings, while Social Security deductions include both low and higher earners.
"There's no hiding the fact that the last year of tax policy has driven up costs for most Americans [while] slashing them for the wealthy," said Michael Ettlinger, ITEP Senior Fellow and author of the report (11). "Tariffs and other federal tax increases have blindsided middle- and low-income taxpayers while the wealthy and corporations have received a hugely disproportionate share of the enacted tax cuts."
The shadow side of Trump's tax cuts
There is a cost to the tax cuts — it's not just free money in your pocket. ITEP (8) puts this in perspective: Tax cuts are services lost for the very Americans that would benefit most from them.
The $117 billion that is staying in the hands of the top 1% in 2026 is more than the combined budgets of the Department of Education, Department of Transportation, Department of Justice, the State Department, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The cumulative deductions from the OBBBA are projected to add $4.6 trillion to the federal government's debt over the coming decade (part of a cumulative $22 trillion projected from 2025 to 2034). To offset the lost federal revenue from the tax cuts, the White House is also spending $1.2 trillion less — with the majority of the cuts coming from health care.
This has "shifted the responsibility for funding for government toward working Americans while delivering substantial benefits to wealthy individuals, corporations and foreign investors, with long-term consequences for inequality and the federal budget," the report said (11).
This ongoing debt can hit the economy through rising interest rates, high inflation and other direct cost of living consequences to many Americans. Many others are at risk of losing food assistance and health insurance benefits.
"In short, this was not the time to add $4.6 trillion in debt by cutting taxes for people and companies that don't need it," writes ITEP (8).
Read More: Dave Ramsey says this 7-step plan ‘works every single time’ to kill debt, get rich in America — and that ‘anyone’ can do it
The net impact of Trump tax cuts
The latest changes will only exacerbate income inequality in 2026, says the report (11).
Tariffs still impact the highest-earning Americans, but they take up a much smaller portion of their income. Similarly, with the latest tax changes favoring high-income households, any costs attributed to tariffs are offset by the tax cuts favoring (8) this group.
What this looks like:
The top 1 percent gets a net tax cut equal to 0.4% of their income
The middle 20 percent sees a net tax increase equal to 1.2% of their income
The poorest 20 percent sees a net tax increase equal to 3.1% of their income
The 2026 ITEP report (11) found that the Trump administration's most recent tax changes have "shifted the responsibility for funding for government toward working Americans while delivering substantial benefits to wealthy individuals, corporations and foreign investors, with long-term consequences for inequality and the federal budget."
While Trump urged (1) Americans not to "spend all of this money in one place!" for many Americans, the economic reality is far bleaker, leaving them with less discretionary income this tax season — and for an increasing majority, even necessities are drifting further beyond reach. Article sources
I may have said this before, but I can't shake the shitty feeling I get every time I stop and contemplate the very real (to me) probability that Epstein's whole kid-fucking thing was in service to gaining leverage over people with big money &/or big power in order to exert pressure to achieve political ends.
And the really shitty part of the feeling is that some people are going to start thinking that the end game actually makes trafficking kids a secondary concern.
I hate this fuckin' shit, but at least we're starting to sift out some of the bigger chunks of shit.
How the Epstein Files Reveal the Final Failure of QAnon
The most enduring conspiracy theories often contain kernels of truth, though it is debatable whether any popularly theorized conspiracy has later been proven as real by unassailable facts. But if one popular conspiracy theory seems to have been promoted from “theory” to fact, it would appear to be QAnon. What started as a far-right prophecy scam using codes and ciphers on 4chan to “reveal” the horrors of a pedophile cabal ruling the world has taken on a distinct tinge of truth thanks to millions of newly-released files involving fixer and child abuser Jeffrey Epstein.
It’s easy to look at Epstein’s communications with billionaires and royals, famous directors and scions of old money, and see the dealings of a cabal. In those countless emails, we seem to have a notorious sex offender and lover of “young women” exchanging messages with some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people. Some of them appear innocuous, and some of them are deeply weird and extremely disturbing.
Like QAnon’s accusations, at least some of these messages are written in what many researchers have theorized is a code for truly unspeakable things, such as powerful people trafficking their own children, or hunting and eating human beings. And just like with QAnon, it’s fallen to “citizen researchers” to dig through the “drops” from the Department of Justice, as unpaid truth crusaders churn through millions of messages full of noise to find the bits of signal that “they” were hiding from us.
Naturally, the Epstein revelations have resulted in some QAnon believers claiming that the Epstein releases validate their years of hard work and research into the “pedo elite” running the west. It’s also resulted in a number of stories, podcasts, and social media threads essentially saying that QAnon was right this whole time. Essentially, we all thought these Q people were crazy, but there really was a pedophile cabal running things, and the Q believers knew the whole time.
Except QAnon has not been “proven true,” and it was not right. This is not because of anything to do with Epstein, but because that’s not really what QAnon was about. The idea of a dark cabal running world events and doing horrible things in the shadows is only part of QAnon — and it’s the least original part, at that.
A secret government or society of insiders using the masses for their Satanic purposes has been a rich source of lore for countless cranks and conspiracists generations before Q emerged on 4chan. Its 20th century form began with The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in the aftermath of the First World War, was later adapted by bestselling tomes of Cold War paranoia like None Dare Call it Conspiracy and Secrets of the Federal Reserve, and would form the core of the lurid post-9/11 globalist fantasies of “Reptoid Elite” theorist David Icke and Infowars’ Alex Jones. The name of this group shifts, but its members are always a hopelessly complicated tangle of bankers, think tanks, political figures, universities, cultural luminaries, and wealthy families. Unsurprisingly, this is almost the same exact motley crew found in the Epstein emails.
Yes, this one happens to be real. But there has always been an upper tier of society walled off from the rest of us through money, influence, and power. It’s a group that is impenetrable and exists in a world of wealth and privilege that most of us only see in movies and tabloids. And many of its charter members have been credibly accused of unspeakably awful things over the last two thousand years. And for that long, they have gotten away with it.
Where QAnon was different, and where it failed spectacularly, was in promising that justice would finally be delivered to these untouchable insiders. It offered believers not nihilistic scapegoating, but a utopia that was just a few executions away. The basis of Q, and why it was so compelling to so many people, was that the monsters were finally going to be brought down by Donald Trump, a figure of outsider wealth beholden to nobody except those who elected him. Only someone with no connection to the powerbrokers and their ancient bloodlines could deliver justice. It would be done swiftly, correctly, and publicly. And nothing would ever be the same.
It’s not hard to understand why this bloody fantasy caught on with people struggling to understand why Trump wasn’t fulfilling the promises of his first presidential campaign. He ran on bringing down the deep state, giving power back to the people, and locking up Hillary Clinton and her goons. Why wasn’t it happening? QAnon gave you an answer: that it was, but it was happening in secret. Q was revealing that secret, and making its believers part of the world it was creating.
Past foundational works of conspiracism were all about what the “insiders” or “superstate of the elite” were doing to you. World domination was inevitable, total enslavement could not be stopped, and freedom was doomed. All one could do was research, prepare, and buy as much food and ammo as your credit card could take.
In contrast, Q believers were shown that victory was possible, if you prayed hard enough and spread the gospel of Q. The anonymous poster encouraged followers to be part of the operation by making memes, doing their own research, and waking up the people they loved. It made the humble “anon” the worst nightmare of the elite machine. While much of the media saw Q as an apocalyptic cult obsessed with violence and race, Q saw itself as the savior of humanity. To quote the title of one popular Q video, it was “the plan to save the world.”
QAnon was a play-by-play of the good guys finally winning, starting with the very first Q drop on Oct. 28, 2017, promising that Hillary Clinton would be arrested in a few days trying to leave the U.S., and that the president would deploy federal forces to put down riots ginned up by her allies.
By decoding the Q drops on 4chan and later 8chan, Q believers were positioned to know before anyone when the long-promised “storm” was coming, and with it, justice.
Q promised arrests and military tribunals for the worst evildoers in dozens of posts, the first of which would “shock the world.” As one Q catchphrase put it, “the hunters would become the hunted.” Another promised “power would be returned to the people,” and that “crimes against children” would be swiftly and brutally punished. Long-held secrets would be revealed, ancient cabals would fall, and those who had terrorized patriots for generations would be hauled away to Guantánamo Bay — or worse. It would all happen “soon” or in “two weeks” or in a “big week” ahead. And nothing could stop it.
Even with the antisemitism and conspiracism inherent to QAnon, some of these are admirable goals. It’s not wrong to want truth and justice, and for people who harm others to be stopped. This is what made QAnon so appealing to older people and religious believers. It wasn’t just anarchic meme-making, it was utopian.
But it was all a hoax. None of it happened, and the people Q promised would be taken down by Trump are still out there, presumably getting away with it. Hillary Clinton was never arrested. There were no mass arrests. It failed on every level.
Trump was supposed to destroy the elite traffickers and release all of the government’s files on their members. Instead, Trump has called the entire Epstein debacle a hoax created by Democrats, and held up the release of the Epstein files to the point where it took immense pressure from Congress for the DOJ to release what they had. Even then, they didn’t, as filings that involved Trump’s alleged assault on a 13 year old girl were only made public after NPR reported that dozens of pages had been withheld. This does not seem like the behavior of someone tirelessly working to bring down Epstein’s cabal of evildoers.
There was supposed to be a great purge of the worst people in society. There were supposed to be shocking arrests and a truth that would “put 99% of Americans in the hospital.” Not a single prominent American has faced legal accountability due to the Epstein fallout other than Epstein. And Epstein didn’t feel the rope of a military tribunal, instead taking his own life without ever facing his accusers.
QAnon wasn’t right. It was spectacularly wrong, stringing its believers along for years with promises of revenge and justice that all turned to dust. The enemy of the deep state turned out to be its most high-profile protector. And the people desperate for accountability are still vulnerable to conspiracy theories that prey on their very natural desires.
QAnon was supposed to be the plan to save the world. But the world is exactly the same as it’s always been.
These numbers are not about people off the streets in "blue cities", and they're not about spoiled pampered brats in pro sports, and they're not ancient history.
These are numbers from the 535 Congress Critters we've got on our payroll right now.
Republicans have nothing but money, and since that's their only tool, everything and everybody has to have a price.
And of course, if the parties were reversed, the Wingnut Outrage-O-Matic would be cranked up to 12.
Ain't it funny how there's no mention of this anywhere on "the right". Their silence is a deafening confirmation of their intention to continue with the hypocrisy as they preach about "transparency", but remain as opaque as possible.
They pull their shit and then pretend they didn't do anything untoward, or they have the mandate of law.
(like they give one empty fuck about the law)
Ground News
Federal Courthouse, Victoria St, Laredo TX
Texas city removes anti-border wall mural after loss of funding threat from governor
HOUSTON (AP) — A South Texas city has removed a mural protesting the border wall along the southern border with Mexico following a threat by Gov. Greg Abbott to withhold up to $1.6 billion in road funding.
The mural, which was painted on a street in front of the federal courthouse in Laredo and said, “Defund the Wall,” was removed Tuesday evening, said Noraida Negron, a spokesperson for the city of Laredo.
Its removal came after Laredo’s City Council on Monday voted to do so.
Laredo is the latest U.S. city to remove political messages or artwork from roadways following a directive from the administration of President Donald Trump and action by Republicans.
In August, Florida officials removed a rainbow-colored crosswalk outside the Pulse nightclub where 49 people were gunned down. In March, crews in Washington, D.C., removed a large yellow “Black Lives Matter” mural that had been painted on a street one block from the White House. The removal came after pressure from Republicans in Congress.
During an at times contentious meeting on Monday, Laredo Mayor Victor Treviño said he had requested a vote on the mural’s removal after receiving a letter earlier this month from the Texas Department of Transportation, or TxDOT, directing the city to eliminate the mural or risk losing up to $1.6 billion in funding for roads.
“We’re not going to devastate our community for what is considered one particular vantage point on our public roads, even if this speech may be popular or well received,” Treviño said.
On Oct. 8, Abbott directed TxDOT to ensure that all Texas cities and counties are in compliance with federal and state guidelines on roadway safety and that symbols, flags and other markings conveying social or political messages were prohibited.
“Texans expect their taxpayer dollars to be used wisely, not advance political agendas on Texas roadways,” Abbott said in a statement.
Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Wednesday.
Abbott’s directive came after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy in July sent letters to all U.S. governors saying that intersections and crosswalks needed to be kept free from distractions as part of a nationwide roadway initiative.
“Roads are for safety, not political messages or artwork,” Duffy said in a statement in July.
The mural in Laredo was painted in 2020 using private funds and came amid lawsuits and protests against the building of the border wall in the area. In 2021, federal officials terminated all remaining border contracts for the Laredo sector.
In Laredo, Elsa Hull a landowner who opposed the building of the border wall, told city council members on Monday that the state’s order to remove the mural was “bullies threatening our city.”
“This mural enabled the people to unite and stand against injustice and allowed us to keep our land, our homes, and our river from being taken away from us. This is part of our history. Don’t erase our voices completely,” Hull said.
The removal of the mural in Laredo comes as earlier this month officials in Houston removed a rainbow-colored crosswalk that had been in place for the last eight years to honor in part the LGBTQ+ community.
During a City Council meeting earlier this month, Houston Mayor John Whitmire was critical of Abbott’s directive but said the city would likely lose any legal challenge to the order.
“If we do not find ways as a city to take a stand, what’s next?” Houston City Council member Abbie Kamin said. “When something is erased like this that means so much to so many, there is a real toll on the community.”
Is anybody legitimately surprised by this latest scandal involving players and the huge money that goes with big time sports leagues?
We've seen this over and over.
1919 White Sox
College basketball in the 50s and 60s
Pete Rose and Art Schlichter in the 80s
Boxing - in the forevers
And that's just the shit I can remember off the top of my head. There has to have been hundreds of similar instances even in the relatively brief history of the US. And there has to be plenty more - probably going on right now - that we've never known about, and probably never will know about.
"Integrity" in big time sports has always been a little iffy, but add the corrupting influence of gambling money, and the near-absolute eventual involvement of mobsters, and whatever sport we're talking about, there's going to be something that looks a lot like a collapse in viewership and fandom because there's no way to trust these fuckers to play it straight anymore.
It's a problem.
It's a very real problem.
And it's getting to be a very real, very big fucking problem.
Sports become de-legitimized, because you can't trust the outcome to be real.
NBA’s gambling scandal renews congressional calls to regulate sports betting
Lawmakers want “safeguards” added after charges are brought against dozens of people, including current and former high-profile NBA figures, in federal sports-betting and illegal poker investigations.
The arrests of current and former high-profile NBA figures on Thursday for illegal sports betting and rigged poker games spurred fresh calls from lawmakers for federal regulation after the scandal exposed evidence of the corrupting influence of betting on sports.
Since a 2018 Supreme Court decision overturned a federal law prohibiting sports betting outside Nevada, 38 states and D.C. have legalized gambling on sports and spawned a multibillion-dollar industry, according to the American Gaming Association.
Members of the House and Senate on Thursday called for “safeguards” after FBI agents arrested more than 30 people, including Portland Trail Blazers Coach Chauncey Billups, who authorities said was involved in a mob-run rigged poker scheme and supplied information to sports bettors about his team. The indictment does not suggest that Billups played any role in the placing of bets or that he received any money in return for the inside information that was used.
Miami Heat player Terry Rozier also was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. FBI Director Kash Patel described the alleged criminal activity by high-profile figures as “the insider trading saga for the NBA.”
Propositional betting, often referred to as prop bets, is facing particular scrutiny inside and outside of Congress. Instead of wagering on the game’s outcome, prop bets, which are at the heart of the federal case, allow gamblers to wager on players’ statistics during the game. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday said he supports increased federal regulation on sports betting to lessen the chances for manipulation of games because of betting. He pointed to his league’s request last year to its gambling operating partners to restrict prop bets on players who split their time between the NBA and its developmental league as an example of ways manipulation can be reduced.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement Thursday that he was committed to getting prop bets out of the system.
“The temptation for athletes, seasoned coaches, and professional officials to adjust performances is real. Sadly, scandals are becoming more and more frequent,” Durbin said, noting that industry leaders such as NCAA President Charlie Baker voiced support for increased regulations at a committee hearing on sports betting last year.
He added: “Congress, states, and sports leagues must all work to maintain the integrity of sports and prevent future sports betting scandals,” after the Supreme Court “struck down commonsense federal law in 2018.”
Bills designed to tighten rules around gambling and gaming have been introduced in recent years, but have failed to gain overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress. The SAFE Bet Act, introduced by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) and Rep. Paul Tonko (D-New York) in March, would require states to meet minimum federal standards in marketing, affordability and artificial intelligence, but the bill hasn’t advanced in either chamber.
Responding to the Justice Department’s indictments Thursday morning, Blumenthal posted on X that he would “continue to fight for federal legislation that provides safeguards against the excesses & abuses that lead to the kind of wrongdoing highlighted by these indictments.”
Tonko described the scandal on social media as “an inevitable consequence of the unchecked explosion of the sports betting industry,” which he said had destroyed public trust in the game with “dire consequences for countless across our nation struggling with problem gambling.”
Sen. Katie Boyd Britt’s (R-Alabama) office said in a statement Thursday that the senator was “open” to having talks “about potential solutions to crack down” on sports betting issues. Britt was one of several senators who signed a bipartisan letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier this month that called for restrictions on illegal offshore gambling, which is sometimes used to get around existing gambling laws and regulations.
After the Judiciary Committee’s December hearing on how the industry’s widespread legalization was affecting athletes, public health and the integrity of amateur and professional sports, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) said he would be “very open” to an independent commission that would assess potential federal oversight.
Other legislative attempts during this Congress have taken a more nuanced approach to tackling specific gambling-related harms as opposed to calling for broad national regulation. Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-Washington), who introduced a bill to restrict prop betting in college sports, said he was “disappointed but not surprised” by the arrests.
“The world of prop bets has opened up a lot of potential for illegal activity and issues that can threaten games,” he told The Washington Post in an interview Thursday, but clarified he was not advocating for a prop bet ban in professional sports. Such a ban would be very “unlikely” to pass through Congress, he said, because there are “many law-abiding citizens” who enjoy participating in prop bets.
While Congress might be inclined to legislate on narrower issues, such as banning prop betting on college athletics, the argument often made by the gaming industry is that offshore betting and criminal syndicates are to blame when betting issues arise. “I don’t think there’s really [an] appetite to go back the other way,” Baumgartner said, referring to the 2018 Supreme Court ruling that ushered in legalized sports betting across the country.
Sports betting companies have responded to the NBA scandal by stressing their “commitment to rooting out abuses,” as per a statement by FanDuel to CNBC. The American Gaming Association said while Thursday’s revelations are “a stark reminder of the pervasive and predatory illegal market … it is important to recognize that the regulated legal market delivers transparency, oversight, and collaboration with authorities that assists in bringing these bad actors to light.”
A DraftKings spokesman told CNBC: “We fundamentally believe that regulated online sports betting is the best way forward, to monitor for and detect suspicious behavior.”
The technique of linking religion to whatever economic &/or political power you're trying to exert is the oldest trick in the book.
The unwashed masses have been conditioned to believe they're not allowed to criticize god, and that they can't resist the awesomeness of his awesomely awesome power, so everybody should just shut up and knuckle under.
If you can convince them that you're actually one with that all-powerful being, you can shit on their heads, and they'll instinctually say, "Thanks for the hat, boss.".
Je suis l’État, et l’État c’est moi.
So here's the WaPo piece:
Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction
The Washington Post reviewed leaked audio from four off-the-record lectures the tech investor delivered in San Francisco over the past month that fused beliefs about religion and technology.
Tech billionaire Peter Thiel recently warned that Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and critics of technology or artificial intelligence are “legionnaires of the Antichrist” in private lectures on Christianity that connected government oversight of Silicon Valley to an apocalyptic future, according to recordings reviewed by The Washington Post.
In the four, roughly two-hour lectures, which began last month and culminated Monday at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Thiel laid out his religious views to a sold-out audience told to keep the contents “off-the-record,” according to an event listing. He argued that those who propose limits on technology development not only hinder business but also threaten to usher in the destruction of the United States and an era of global totalitarian rule, according to the recordings.
“In the 17th, 18th century, the Antichrist would have been a Dr. Strangelove, a scientist who did all this sort of evil crazy science,” Thiel said in his Sept. 15 opening talk, according to the recordings. “In the 21st century, the Antichrist is a Luddite who wants to stop all science. It’s someone like Greta or Eliezer,” he said, referring to Thunberg and Eliezer Yudkowsky, a prominent critic of the tech industry’s approach to AI.
Thunberg has criticized global capitalism as a driver of environmental degradation while Yudkowsky advocates for limiting AI research to prevent the technology from surpassing human intelligence. Thiel previously funded Yudkowsky’s work but said in his Sept. 15 lecture that he is now embarrassed by the association and that the AI critic and others like him have become “deranged,” according to the recordings.
Thiel’s lectures come at a time of rising Christian nationalism in the United States. Christians have varying interpretations of the biblical Antichrist, but the figure is often understood to be an opponent of God who appears during the end-times.
The Post sent Thiel, through a spokesperson, a detailed list of questions about his remarks in the lectures, but Thiel declined to comment.
Yudkowsky said in a statement “my understanding is that authorities from multiple Christian denominations have stated that Thiel’s views, identifying the Antichrist with proposals to regulate the AI industry, are not deemed by them to be compatible with conventional Christian belief.” Spokespeople for Thunberg did not return a request for comment.
The Post reviewed audio recordings of all four of Thiel’s lectures, titled “The Antichrist: A Four-Part Lecture Series.” A review of a sample of the audio by Hany Farid, a digital forensics expert and professor at the University of California at Berkeley, indicated they were probably authentic and not manipulated by AI. Reuters previously reported some passages from Thiel’s lectures.
Thiel, an early investor in Facebook and co-founder of data analytics firm Palantir, has long espoused libertarian views, arguing that politics, bureaucracy and regulations have led to economic stagnation in the U.S. and Europe.
But the recent lectures appear to mark an intensification of this ideology and attempt to pitch it on a grander scale. The recordings offer new detail about how the billionaire seems to place those who would critique or regulate tech developers into a religious good-vs.-evil worldview, where the future of all creation depends on giving innovators free rein.
Silicon Valley leaders have escalated their fight against regulating AI since President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Thiel has close ties to administration officials including Vice President JD Vance, White House science adviser Michael Kratsios and David Sacks, White House AI and crypto czar. As one of the industry’s most influential leaders, his effort to cast resisting oversight of technology development as a religious battle could intensify the industry’s crusade.
Thiel said in his third lecture, on Sept. 29, that only a religious argument could inspire the proper response to the threat of a growing web of global rules, according to the recording.
“There are a lot of rational reasons I can give why the one-world state’s a bad idea: Turn the planet into a prison; I think the tax rates would be very high,” he said, according to the recording. “But I think if you strip it from the biblical context, you will never find it scary enough. You will never really resist.”
The billionaire’s lectures were also notable as a forceful display of religiosity in an industry that has historically been secular. Christianity has recently become a significant presence in some influential tech circles, in part because of ACTS 17 Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to spreading Christian principles inside the tech industry that organized the Thiel lectures.
Those with tickets were required to attend the full series of four talks in addition to respecting the off-the-record policy, the event listing said. Thiel hinted in his third lecture on Sept. 29 that the restriction was intended to draw more attention to his ideas, according to the recording. “It’s a pretty good marketing shtick if you want everyone to hear about something, not to let anyone into the room,” he said. “I’m not bragging, but I’m not totally incompetent.”
The billionaire spoke for nearly eight hours across the four private lectures about his theories of the role of technology in society and the world, according to the recordings, citing sources ranging from the Bible and theological and philosophical texts to Japanese anime.
He acknowledged that technology could have negative effects on people and society but argued that constraining its development would be more harmful.
“Maybe these things are good or bad — stopping them seems far, far worse,” he said, according to the recordings. “If the internet or the AI deranges some people but we have to shut it down altogether, that feels like out of the frying pan into the fire — a cure that’s far worse than the disease.”
A threadbare patchwork of state laws imposes limits on AI development, requiring California companies to safety-test products and preventing Texas companies from discriminating against protected classes. Despite a flurry of activity in Washington in recent years, no federal law has passed.
Thiel argued that critiques of technology and calls for stricter regulation by Thunberg and others appear to echo biblical interpretations of an Antichrist who will win power by offering the world “peace and safety” from apocalyptic destruction, according to the recordings. He previously cited Thunberg in a June interview with the New York Times
Thiel also accused Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom, who is known for popularizing the idea that humanity will eventually invent a potentially dangerous “superintelligence,” of advocating for restrictions on technology that will hold society back, according to the recordings.
In an interview, Bostrom said his views are “complex” and have evolved to focus more on the positive potential of AI. “Maybe he needs a new casting agency for his demonology,” Bostrom said of Thiel.
Thiel, whose net worth is around $27 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, also used his private talks to criticize financial regulations. He said such rules were a sign that a singular world government has begun to emerge that could be taken over by an Antichrist figure who could then use it to exert control over people.
“It’s become quite difficult to hide one’s money,” Thiel said, according to the recordings. “An incredible machinery of tax treaties, financial surveillance and sanctions architecture has been constructed.” Wealth gives the “illusion of power and autonomy,” Thiel added, according to the recordings, “but you have this sense it could be taken away at any moment.”
Thiel has deep ties to the Trump administration and was early among tech figures to endorse the president’s first run for office in 2016. He did not donate to any Republican politicians in 2024 but was part of a network of tech elites who helped install Vance, a mentee, as vice president.
Thiel has donated to GOP candidates this year, giving $850,000 to the joint fundraising committee of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), according to federal election filings.
In his lectures and the Q&As that followed each one, Thiel offered views on whether figures including President Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, former president Joe Biden and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates were Antichrist-like figures, according to the recordings.
Biden and Xi were not charismatic enough, Thiel said, according to the recordings, and while he declared Gates a “very, very awful person,” the investor said he was not “remotely able to be the Antichrist.”
Thiel’s comments about Trump were more complex, according to the recordings. “If you, in a sincere, rational, well-reasoned way are willing to make the argument that Trump is the Antichrist, I will give you a hearing,” he said. “If you’re not willing to make that argument, maybe you have to be open to possibility that he’s at least relatively good.”
A spokesman for Thiel, Jeremiah Hall, said: “Peter doesn’t believe Trump is the Antichrist. His challenge was for Trump’s liberal critics to make that case if they want Peter to hear them out, and he knows that in practice they can’t and won’t do so.” The White House did not return a request for comment.
Thiel also talked about other powerful figures in technology. He accused fellow tech investor Marc Andreessen of “pure Silicon Valley gobbledygook propaganda,” according to the recordings, in Andreessen’s 2023 essay titled “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto” that predicted AI would rapidly transform society in many positive ways.
Thiel had kinder words about Tesla CEO Elon Musk, according to the recordings, calling the entrepreneur, who has recently praised Christianity, one of the “smarter, more thoughtful people” he knows.
The investor said he recently encouraged Musk to renege on his 2012 commitment to the Giving Pledge movement co-founded by Gates, which asks wealthy people to commit the majority of their fortune to charitable causes, according to the recordings.
“$200 billion — if you’re not going to be careful — is going to left-wing nonprofits that are going to be chosen by Bill Gates,” Thiel said he warned Musk, according to the recording, painting the philanthropist as among the malevolent forces besetting technologists.
Musk did not respond to a request for comment. Spokespeople for Andreessen and Gates did not respond to requests for comment. Reuters previously reported some of Thiel’s comments on Trump and Musk.
Thiel has long been a devout Christian, but in recent times he and other prominent Silicon Valley figures have been more vocal about their faith. The movement has gained momentum since Trump’s reelection and has become entangled with the rapid development of artificial intelligence, which some see as a potentially all-powerful technology raising deep questions about humanity.
ACTS 17, the Christian nonprofit that organized Thiel’s talks, is an acronym for Acknowledging Christ within Technology and Society. Its name also refers to the New Testament book of Acts, in which the apostle Paul travels to Athens, where he debates the Christian Gospel with philosophers.
The group’s founder, Michelle Stephens, is married to Trae Stephens, an investor at Thiel’s venture capital firm, Founders Fund, and a co-founder of military tech company Anduril.
Stephens has said that she got the idea for ACTS 17 at a 40th birthday party for her husband in 2023. At the celebration, she has said in interviews, Thiel gave a speech about Christ and miracles, prompting her to realize that ministering to elites is just as important as Christian teachings about ministering to the poor.
Stephens introduced Thiel at his first lecture on Sept. 15 as “one of the great capitalists” and also “great Christians of our time,” according to the recording. Protesters gathered outside the event, according to local news reports, with some dressed as devils or holding signs that accused Thiel himself of being the Antichrist.
When asked for comment, Stephens asked The Post to “respect” the event’s off-the-record policy and did not comment further.
Garry Tan, chief executive of the start-up incubator Y Combinator and a member of ACTS 17, has hosted events in his San Francisco home — a converted church — about the intersection of Christian faith, science and technology over the past year.
One gathering hosted by Tan in June featured Pat Gelsinger, former CEO of chipmaker Intel, and was organized by ACTS 17, according to a social post by Gelsinger. “Such a deep discussion on the ‘Holy Shift’ across life, AI, leadership and faith,” he wrote.
A spokesperson for Playground, a venture capital firm where Gelsinger is a general partner, declined to comment.
Tan said he thought Thiel’s comparison of potential overregulation of AI to the Antichrist was “thought-provoking” and a “somewhat tongue-in-cheek” use of the concept. “These are useful mental frameworks for how technology interacts with society,” he said.
Overregulation of nuclear power has worsened the climate crisis, he added. “What if we do that to the age of intelligence? The future won’t repeat, but it will rhyme.”
They don't listen to you or me, and they've become so enamored of their power - and the money they enjoy from their wealthy benefactors - they don't even listen to themselves as they barf their talking points into the atmosphere.
"I am more powerful than Elon Musk, or Jeff Bezos, or Mark Zuckerberg because I can stand up right here, right now, and say, "Fuck you Donald Trump. Fuck you. And they can't do that."
Gold just hit a fresh all-time high with tariff worries sending investors scrambling for safety
Gold reached a fresh high over over $3,100 an ounce on Monday.
The safe haven is gaining on tariff fears, falling yields, and a declining dollar.
Goldman expects the gold prices to reach $3,300 an ounce by year-end.
Tariff anxiety is crushing risk appetite and sending gold to fresh highs amid the flight to safety.
The yellow metal surged to $3,127 per ounce Monday morning, up $100 in less than a week. Tariff-driven economic fears have made it one of this year's hottest commodities, having gained 18.3% so far in 2025.
The metal gained momentum amid heavy losses in US stocks on Monday as traders brace for the April 2 tariff date set by Trump.
Investors worry that the sweeping duties could escalate a global trade war, battering US markets and the economy. The tariffs have been the chief culprit behind the stock market's correction this year, and explain why Treasury yields have dropped to the 4% range.
But the stock market's pain is gold's gain this year.
"While stocks falter, gold continues to shine. The metal's status as a safe haven has been reinforced by tightening financial conditions, falling bond yields, and a weaker US dollar," wrote Daniela Sabin Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com. "As foreign demand for US assets drops due to lower yields, the environment becomes increasingly supportive for non-yielding assets like gold."
At $3,100 an ounce, the metal trades above the year-end forecasts made at the end of 2024.
But since President Donald Trump took office, banks such as Goldman Sachs have reassessed expectations. As of last week, the bank now sees $3,300 as the likely outcome, as tariff fears have reshaped gold flows and a pick up in central bank demand.
"While ETF flows generally track Fed policy rates, history shows they can overshoot during extended periods of macro uncertainty -- such as during the Covid-19 pandemic," the bank wrote Wednesday.
While technical indicators suggest gold is currently overbought, broader bullish momentum should overcome any short-term consolidation, Hathorn said. The next level of resistance for the metal will be at $3,200.
But some are not so sure the metal can keep outperforming. Morningstar analyst Jon Mills told Business Insider that a number of headwinds will drag gold to $1,820 in the coming years.
For now, tariff jitters are also moving other metals. Copper, which reached a nine-month high recently, is in retreat ahead of the April levies. According to ING, industrial metals suffer if tariffs slow global growth.
