Iran Hardliners Push For Nukes Amid Tehran's Demands That US Scale Back Ceasefire Conditions

When The Cost of Truth Is High, We (And AI) Lie... Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, When we can no longer tell the truth because the cost is so high that it threatens our reward for compliance, we're unimaginably impoverished. Truth has an intrinsic, irreplaceable value.  There's the truth, and then there's everything else. Truth has value, and so it has a cost.  Whatever has the highest value has the highest cost, and high cost commands sacrifices. When the cost of truth is high, we lie.  And since AI is a distorted reflection of...

Visualizing The Stunning Global Fertility Divide A widening gap is emerging in global birth rates. This chart, via Visual Capitalist's Niccolo Conte, shows population-weighted total fertility rates (TFR) across major world regions, based on data from the UN World Population Prospects 2024 Revision, and how they compare to the 2.1 replacement level. While Africa remains far above this threshold, most of the world, including Asia, Europe, and the Americas, has already fallen below it. This split highlights where future population growth is likely to be concentrated. Africa Stands Apart Africa’s fertility rate of 4.0 children...

Pentagon Delegation's Beijing Visit Held Up Over Gargantuan US Arms Package For Taiwan China is using a Pentagon itinerary as structural leverage, and Taiwan remains front and center as the key geopolitical snag in bettering communications and relations between Beijing and Washington. According to a Financial Times report published Thursday, China is actively holding up a proposed visit by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's under-secretary of defense for policy. The move is a transparent effort to pressure President Trump over a looming $14 billion weapons package for Taiwan. Elbridge Colby, left. While Colby had...