Authored by Paul Bradford via American Greatness,

For years, some of the worst actors in the tech industry were able to do as they pleased without fear of consequence.

They could construct monopolies, censor conservatives, and promote wokeness as much as they wanted. But things are beginning to change with the Trump administration. Thanks to the efforts of the White House, the days of Big Tech wantonness are over. These companies now must follow the basic tenets of the free market and stop suppressing views they disagree with.

Cocoa prices have collapsed 75% from their 2024 peaks, and Goldman’s latest note points out that the worst of the cocoa shock for chocolate makers may finally be passing after being squeezed by soaring bean costs through 2023, 2024, and into the first half of 2025. This only suggests that lower chocolate bar prices at the supermarket could materialize later this year. Against that backdrop, Goldman reiterated Buy ratings on two confectionery stocks.

Authored by Lipton Matthews via The Mises Institute,

I recently attended an event at the Prosperity Institute in the United Kingdom, and, as a foreigner listening to the discussion unfold, I found it both unsettling and clarifying.

The panel addressed the grooming gang scandal, a subject that remains profoundly uncomfortable for Britain’s political and cultural establishment. What distinguished this event was its refusal to soften the reality of what occurred or to retreat into evasive language. The discussion did not merely revisit past failures; it exposed a deeper pattern in how British institutions exercise power.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has unveiled a critical minerals agreement with Kazakhstan on Thursday as Western governments move to shift supply chains away from China, moving ahead on London's plans to diversify its critical mineral sourcing.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

McDonald’s latest marketing stunt in Germany syncs billboards to show empty packaging by day and full meals only after sunset, drawing backlash for prioritizing a minority’s religious observance over the broader customer base.

China has removed nine military lawmakers from its national parliament, escalating President Xi Jinping's purge of senior defense officials, which has been a months-long trend, tracked closely by global headlines.

In this latest move, first reported internationally by Bloomberg Thursday, the country's top legislative body stripped Ground Force Commander Li Qiaoming and Information Support Force Political Commissar Li Wei of their seats, along with seven other officers.

Authored by Andrew Korybko,

Russia’s control over it, whether through Ukraine’s withdrawal or forcible expulsion, is considered to be the basis of the US’ peace plan that the Brits and French are dangerously trying to subvert.

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) reported on the four-year anniversary of the special operation that the Brits and French are plotting to help Ukraine go nuclear. The alleged plan is to provide it with relevant European components and equipment that would then be misrepresented to the world as proof of a domestically developed nuclear program. They’ll also give it at least one actual warhead and/or materials for a dirty bomb.

Authored by Paul Crespo via RealClearWire,

As many focus on the world’s largest island, Greenland, and President Trump’s aggressive efforts to acquire it, another strategic Arctic island, nearby Svalbard, may be an even more likely future point of contention and conflict.

The following has made for quite the headline, as a retired elite US Air Force pilot is in very hot water and faces US intelligence and military questioning: "A former US Air Force fighter pilot with more than two decades of experience with nuclear delivery systems and aircraft, including advanced F-35 stealth jets, has been arrested and charged with conspiring to help the Chinese military," according to CNN.

Late on Wednesday, we highlighted an aggressive options trade where a call spread buyer in Netflix options had bet $14 million that Paramount would end up buying Warner Brothers after Netflix walks, something which Polymarket had indicated very much since the start of this particular M&A saga...

Kim Jong-un just gave a fresh nuclear speech, vowing that North Korea will expand its atomic arsenal in both scale and sophistication, and that this is necessary given pressure from nuclear-armed "imperialist" superpowers like the United States.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

President Trump’s administration is ramping up its assault on illegal immigration by eyeing a bold new tactic: enlisting banks to verify the citizenship of every customer. 

This potential executive order would mandate financial institutions to collect proof like passports from both new and existing account holders, effectively cutting off undocumented migrants from the banking system they’ve exploited under open-border policies.