Green Retreat: California Eases Carbon-Market Costs For Oil Refiners

Systemic Risk: A 12-Order Cascading Analysis Of A Zero-Flow Strait Of Hormuz Closure Authored by Craig Tindale via X: Executive Summary The modern world order, having organized itself around efficiency, cost minimization, and logistical precision, has created a machinery of dependence so extreme that the interruption of one narrow corridor can propagate outward into a general crisis of civilization. What appears at first as a maritime blockade is in fact the exposure of the entire global system as a hierarchy of brittle interdependencies. Oil and LNG fail as inputs into electricity, fertilizer, shipping, chemicals,...

No Benefits: Why Most Americans Hate The Idea Of AI Data Centers Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us In recent months I’ve been asked by numerous readers to give my take on the AI data center issue and the debate it has ignited across the US. In response, I’ve jumped into a steep learning curve, but it seems to parallel information I’ve covered in previous articles on AI. From what I can tell, both political parties are split on the data center debate. There are Democrats and Republicans on both sides of...

Apple Intelligence Fails To Ignite "Upgrade Activity," UBS Says Apple Intelligence is not yet moving the needle or exciting the customer base the way Wall Street had expected when analysts pitched AI as the spark for a new iPhone upgrade supercycle. That narrative continues to sputter. UBS analysts, citing their latest Evidence Lab survey of more than 7,500 smartphone users across five major markets, found that Apple's AI features are "not driving upgrade activity," with the share of respondents saying they would upgrade sooner for Apple Intelligence falling to about...