The storage tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma, are hitting bottom. The oil market is about to hit a tipping point

The storage tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma, are hitting bottom. The oil market is about to hit a tipping point

CNN reports: Cushing, Oklahoma, dubs itself the pipeline crossroads of the world. The tagline is emblazoned on a giant roadside sign fashioned out of pipes on the corner of Main Street and South Stiles Road. It has a valve and everything. But it’s not just a slogan. In 1912, Tom Slick (his real name) was passing through what’s now Drumright, Oklahoma, when he smelled oil. He bought the land for $1 an acre and started digging, uncovering what was then…

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UAE to unlock billions of dollars for Iran, sources say

UAE to unlock billions of dollars for Iran, sources say

Reuters reports: The United Arab Emirates has agreed to unlock billions of dollars for Iran, four sources said, ​in a tactical shift after weeks of Iranian attacks on the wealthy Gulf Arab state during the U.S.-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic. Word of the move, which has not ‌been previously reported, coincides with the final stages of broader negotiations between Tehran and Washington on ending the war, talks that diplomats say could involve the release of tens of billions of…

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Democrats should be on the front lines of the data center resistance

Democrats should be on the front lines of the data center resistance

Tressie McMillan Cottom writes: Americans hate data centers. They really, really hate them. A Gallup poll from May found that 71 percent of Americans would oppose a data center being built in their area. In rural communities in Utah and North Carolina, regular people are organizing to stop data center construction, speaking out at public hearings and pressuring politicians for bans. They are passionate enough to attend political education sessions about water rights, land use and thermodynamics. Cities like Tulsa,…

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After SpaceX’s huge IPO, Americans’ financial future will be bound to AI

After SpaceX’s huge IPO, Americans’ financial future will be bound to AI

Eduardo Porter writes: Americans are growing worried about what artificial intelligence portends for their futures. Eight in 10 Americans report concern over AI, compared with a third who report being excited, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll. More than half think it will do more harm than good in their daily lives. Seven out of 10 think it will reduce the number of available jobs. Skeptical though they may be, they are about to get more AI rammed down their…

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Active Clubs, a white supremacist youth group, helped orchestrate the Belfast riots

Active Clubs, a white supremacist youth group, helped orchestrate the Belfast riots

Wired reports: Within an hour after a horrific knife attack took place in Belfast on Monday night, far-right UK activist Tommy Robinson had shared a video of the incident on X, a post that racked up 6 million views. Within hours Elon Musk, the owner of the platform, weighed in, agreeing with a post calling for “consequences” for politicians. By Tuesday morning, supercharged by X, the video was everywhere, and groups on Facebook were organizing protests across Northern Ireland and…

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The Silicon Valley elites who believe their political power should match their financial might

The Silicon Valley elites who believe their political power should match their financial might

The American Prospect reports: According to Zack Rosen, founder of California YIMBY and the Abundance Network, the problem with politics is Americans being too involved. Bemoaning the rise of small-dollar political donations in fundraising documents leaked to the Prospect, Rosen is blunt: “Small dollar internet fundraising makes politics dumber.” Rosen misses what he considers to be a bygone era of elite dominance. Lamenting the current state of democratized influence, Rosen says “the old gatekeepers were political professionals who could count…

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The Gulf Stream suddenly moved north during an ancient cold snap – and it’s a warning for our future

The Gulf Stream suddenly moved north during an ancient cold snap – and it’s a warning for our future

The Gulf Stream shifts warm water across the Atlantic to Europe. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, CC BY-SA By Alice Carter-Champion, Royal Holloway, University of London; Fangjingcheng Zhu, University of Southampton, and Jack Wharton, UCL Around 13,000 years ago, as the world was emerging from the grip of the last ice age, much of the North Atlantic region plunged back into near-glacial conditions. Sea ice expanded across the North Atlantic, reaching as far south as the Shetland Islands….

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Oil executives warn White House that gas prices will get worse

Oil executives warn White House that gas prices will get worse

The Washington Post reports: Oil and gas executives have warned the White House that gasoline prices could surge in coming months as fuel inventories fall to critical lows, complicating the Trump administration’s efforts to contain inflation that has already rattled American consumers. Industry officials say they are doing everything they can to sound an alarm that prices are about to soar as the commercial and government inventories that have mitigated price rises so far are rapidly depleting, according to multiple…

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China is propping up the global economy by importing a lot less oil

China is propping up the global economy by importing a lot less oil

The Wall Street Journal reports: A sharp fall in China’s crude oil imports during the Iran war has been instrumental in holding down oil prices and keeping the global economy humming. Clues are emerging in the mystery of the missing three million barrels—the oil that China would normally be importing but isn’t now. Chinese people are driving fewer gasoline-powered cars and taking trains instead of planes. The country is dialing back operations at the plants that turn crude oil into…

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Is the U.S. secretly sneaking oil through the Strait of Hormuz, as Trump claims?

Is the U.S. secretly sneaking oil through the Strait of Hormuz, as Trump claims?

ABC News reports: Soon after President Donald Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday that the United States has been secretly ferrying “millions of barrels” of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, Trump announced on social media that “more than 100 MILLION Barrels of Oil” and “more than 200 Commercial Ships” have successfully traveled through the strait. “Last month, I directed our Great U.S. Military to execute a secret mission to support Oil Tankers and other Commercial Ships through…

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Stalled Anti-Weaponization Fund workaround: Quietly invite claimants to sue the government, then settle

Stalled Anti-Weaponization Fund workaround: Quietly invite claimants to sue the government, then settle

Sarah Fitzpatrick writes: Shortly after Trump took office for the second time, the White House asked the Justice Department and Trump’s legal advisers to find a way to reimburse him and those close to him for the millions of dollars in legal expenses he has incurred, including over the Mueller probe into his campaign’s relationship with Russia as well as multiple impeachments and criminal investigations. That effort was later combined with a separate but related push by Trump supporters to…

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Women who fled Iran will be sent by the U.S. to one of the most dangerous countries in Africa

Women who fled Iran will be sent by the U.S. to one of the most dangerous countries in Africa

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration is preparing to deport nearly two dozen people to the Central African Republic on Thursday, including at least two Iranian women who had sought refuge in the United States, according to lawyers and a government official. The flight, which is also expected to include migrants from Afghanistan and Syria, would mark the first such deportation to the Central African Republic, a deeply impoverished country that has been plagued by conflict. The country…

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German court rules that Google is directly liable for false claims in its AI-generated search overviews

German court rules that Google is directly liable for false claims in its AI-generated search overviews

The Decoder reports: A German court has ruled that Google is directly liable for what its AI search overviews say. Previous case law shielding search engine operators from liability doesn’t apply to AI overviews. The Regional Court of Munich hit Google with a temporary injunction barring the company from spreading false claims about two Munich-based publishers through its AI-generated search overviews (case no. 26 O 869/26). The court classified Google as a direct infringer because the “AI overview” is its…

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Human evolution was messy and gradual, not an abrupt revolution, archaeologist argues

Human evolution was messy and gradual, not an abrupt revolution, archaeologist argues

Krystal Kasal writes: It is generally accepted by archaeologists that modern humans originated in Africa and dispersed worldwide, while other hominins went extinct. Yet how and when Homo sapiens dispersed out of Africa, and whether it was an abrupt event, is still debated. Even more uncertain is how and when humans went from being “archaic” to “modern.” In a recent study, published in Quaternary Science Reviews, archaeologist Huw S. Groucutt argues that the ideas of modernity and a “Human Revolution”…

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